Post-mortem biochemical alterations in aquacultured matrinxã fish Brycon cephalus (Günther, 1869) when stored on ice in Manaus-AM, were studied in this paper. The storage time on ice was determined through tasting and physical sensory evaluations, pH, total volatile bases nitrogen (TVB-N) and bacteriological analyses during 29 days. Rigor-mortis index, ATP-related compounds and K value were also determined. Chemical composition demonstrated that fish was classified as "semi-fat". The specimens presented rigor-mortis 75 minutes after death caused by hypothermia and remained that way for 10 days. Shelf life time on ice was 26 days, according to sensory evaluations, pH, TVBN determinations and bacteriological analyses. ATP-related compounds pointed out that the referred species was considered to be inosine (HxR) forming, in experimental conditions. The K value pointed out that matrinxã specimens remained "quite fresh" up to 16 days storage time on ice corroborating the sensory, tasting evaluation.
fish rigor-mortis; sensory evaluation; nucleotides; freshness index; shelf life
