Postmortem Changes of Crucian Carp (Carassius auratus) During Storage in Ice

Postmortem catabolism of Adenosine Triphosphate and Adenosine Triphosphate-related compounds, K value, pH, and texture of crucian carp were investigated during storage in ice. ATP and Adenosine Diphosphate degraded to Inosinic acid within 48 hours postmortem. There was a good relationship between pH value and IMP concentration (r = -0.753), IMP reached a top point at 3.33 +/- 0.17 mu mols/g in 4 hours postmortem; meanwhile, Hypoxanthine reached a bottom point at 0.038 +/- 0.0052 mu mol/g. K value increased linearly (r = 0.96) from an initial value of 0.54 to 1.66% in 48 hours postmortem. Texture analyses results suggested that rigor mortis lasted about 1 hour postmortem, after resolution of rigor, hardness, gumminess, and chewiness decreased in accordance with storage time (r = -0.88, -0.78, and -0.78, respectively). Those results indicated that it was better to effectively utilize the crucian carp in 2-4 hours postmortem. The K value might not be a good indicator to monitoring the loss of freshness of crucian carp during storage in ice since the K value was much lower than marine fish.