<p>Fish scale δ¹⁵N (δ¹⁵N_sca) records trophic information of the whole life history for marine fishes. Data from gut content and values calculated from white muscle tissue (WMT) are insufficient for assessing trophic level (<i>TL</i>) of marine fishes as they only provide the information of several months or even several days. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of nitrogen was carried out in fish scales and WMT of 16 species from a total of 28 individuals captured from the Yellow Sea and northern East China Sea in October and November of 2019, aiming at discovering the correlation between δ¹⁵N_sca and fish WMT δ¹⁵N (δ¹⁵N_WMT), so as to use δ¹⁵N_sca for the characterization of <i>TL</i>s of marine fish. Scales were analyzed without prior carbonate dissolution as a pre-processing step. <i>TL</i> calculated from δ¹⁵N_sca was compared to traditional <i>TL</i> formula calculated with δ¹⁵N_WMT to estimate the accuracy. We found that there was a highly significant and positive correlation (<i>r</i>=0.830, <i>P</i>&lt;0.001) between δ¹⁵N_sca and δ¹⁵N_WMT. <i>TL</i> calculation results using fish scale (<i>TL</i>_sca) and WMT (<i>TL</i>_WMT) showed congruence (<i>r</i>=0.773, <i>P</i>&lt;0.001), and the regression coefficient between δ¹⁵N_sca and δ¹⁵N_WMT was used for calculating <i>TL</i>_sca. The conversion was conducted for the purpose of comparison with previous δ¹⁵N_WMT-based calculation results of <i>TL</i>. <i>TL</i>_sca calculation results were 81.25% within the <i>TL</i> range of ±10% calculated with δ¹⁵N_WMT. The findings in the present study showed that δ¹⁵N_sca is a viable technique for the characterization of the <i>TL</i> of marine fish and can help to predict food web and support the study of marine ecosystem.</p>