Abstract: In order to explore the effects of temperature and chitooligosaccharide on storage quality of sea urchin, the quality changes of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus treated with chitooligosaccharide at various concentrations during storage at 0 or 4 ℃ were evaluated by sensory quality, total bacterial count, total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), pH. The quality of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus without chitooligosaccharide treatment was also determined in the same manner. The results indicated that each quality index of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus stored at 0 ℃ was significantly lower than that of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus stored at 4℃ (P ＜0.05). Moreover, chitooligosaccharide treatment at 0 ℃ significantly enhanced the preservative effect of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus (P ＜0.05). However, the change of chitooligosaccharide concentration did not exhibit obvious impact on each quality index of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus during storage (P ＞ 0.05). The shelf-life of Hemicentrous pulcherrimus treated with chitooligosaccharide at the concentration of 0.1 g/100 mL during storage at 0 ℃ showed an extension of 5－6 days as compared with storage at 4 ℃.

Key words: Hemicentrous pulcherrimus, chitooligosaccharide, temperature, storage quality