1998 Volume 64 Issue 2 Pages 309-313
As a part of the study program to clarify the cause of differences in rigor mortis among other fishes, the temporal changes of muscular contraction in the pillar form of muscle were measured at various storage temperatures in cultured red sea bream and cultured Japanese flounder acclimated at a habitat temperature of 25°C, and the discrepancies in the progress of muscular contraction were examined between both fishes. To examine in detail the temporal changes of muscular contraction at various storage temperatures and then between both fishes, the temporal changes were applied to straight regression lines within the range until reaching a peak of muscular contraction. These regression lines closely matched the actual measurement values. In both fish species, the slope value, the speed of progression of muscular contraction, slowed with the decrease of storage temperature within the range from 25°C to 12°C; on the contrary, within the range under 10°C, it became faster. The progression speed and level of muscular contraction were faster and higher in cultured red sea bream than in cultured Japanese flounder at various storage temperatures. The cold rigor mortis in both fishes, however, appeared equally at storage temperature near 10°C.
