A C18 reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic（RP-HPLC） method was developed for the determination of total astaxanthin saponified from Antarctic krill oil.The sample was saponified with sodium hydroxide-methanol solution（4 mol/L），the reaction was ended with sodium hydrogen sulfate,and the reaction liquid was purified by n-hexane liquid-liquid extraction．The effect of saponification time on saponification efficiency of astaxanthin in Antarctic krill oil was investigated.The results showed that the best saponification time was 30 min．Chromatographic separation was performed with a C18 liquid chromatographic column（250 mm×4.6 mm，5 μm） at room temperature with an eluent of 100% methanol at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.The eluate was monitored with a diode array detector at 476 nm.The separation and identification of astaxanthin was completed within 5 min.The limits of detection（LOD） and quantitation（LOQ） for astaxanthin in Antarctic krill oil were 0.005 mg/kg and 0.2 mg/kg,respectively.A good linear relationship between chromatographic peak area and concentration in the range of 0.2-20.0 mg/L was obtained with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 9．The average recoveries were between 90.2% and 95.2%，and the inter- and intra-RSDs of the method were not more than 3.4% and 4.3%,respectively.The method was rapid,simple,precise and accurate,and could be applied in the inspection of astaxanthin in Antarctic krill oil．