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Imbalances in phosphorus (P) intake relative to demand negatively affect animal growth, but their consequences are less understood for vertebrates, in which bone represents a significant and potentially flexible pool of P. Flexibility in body‐P content could buffer vertebrates from the effects of imbalances between P intake and demand, reducing the likelihood of a sharp stoichiometric “knife‐edge” in the relationship between growth rate and diet‐P level. We conducted a meta‐analysis of published aquaculture experiments that tested effects of diet %P on fish growth rate (49 studies, 28 species) and body‐P content (27 of the studies in the main data set, 20 species). Our meta‐analysis revealed significant P limitation of growth, as well as significant negative effects of excess P on growth rate. Diet‐P thresholds for these effects occurred at ecologically relevant levels (optimal diet‐P of 1.2% ± 0.45%, mean ± SD, under …