CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND POSTMORTEM CHANGES IN SOFT TEXTURED MUSCLE FROM INTENSELY FEEDING ATLANTIC COD (GADIUS MORHUA, L)

Abstract

Soft textured fillets from postspawning Atlantic cod caught during the influx of capelin exhibited significantly more drip than fillets from fish caught at other times of the 1983 inshore fishing season. The extent and rate of pH decline, protein, collagen and temperature of the muscle were not distinctive in fish caught during the influx of capelin. The muscle from these fish were unique in exhibiting a rapid and relatively low ultimate pH together with a stable pH after the onset of rigor mortis. The number of capelin present in the stomach of cod at the time of catch was positively related (r = 0.92) to the amount of free drip recovered from the fillets.