A STUDY ON CHANGE IN NUCLEOTIDES OF MUSCLE OF WRASSE KEPT IN CHILL-STORAGE

Data presented here showed that the degradation pattern of varying nucleotides in muscle of wrasse, Pseudolabrus japonicas, kept at 0°C somewhat differed from that of carp1). ATP decreased quite rapidly as compared with that in carp muscle. A complete degradation of ATP occured approximately a three-hour period after slaughter, which corresponded to 1/20 to 1/30 of the time required for ATP degradation in carp muscle. While nearly no rigor mortis was detected in carp muscle during the chill-storage1), a quite marked rigor mortis was detected in the wrasse muscle at three-hour period of storage, accompanied with the rapid disappearance of ATP and the accumulation of considerable amount of AMP. Not much difference was noted between wrasse and carp muscle in the time of maintain-ing of maximal amount of IMP. The time of keeping passable flavor-quality was found about a half the time of incipient spoilage.