Abstract: Five common kinds of freshwater fish such as Ctenopharyngodon idellus Cuv. et val. (grass carp), Carassius auratus cuvieri (crucian carp), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Cuv (silver carp), Cyprinus carpio Linn (carp) and Megalobrama amblycephala (blunt-snout) from Hubei province were selected to conduct the analysis of texture properties and nutritional components. The results indicated that five kinds of freshwater fish ranked in the order of grasp carp, carp, crucian carp, blunt-snout and silver carp according to muscle hardness. The hardness, springiness, adhesiveness and chewness of the muscle from the five kinds of freshwater fish exhibited an increase trend due to the growth of fish and the increase of body weight. The muscle springiness was positively correlated with the water content and negatively correlated with fat content. Principal component analysis was performed based on 7 parameters of textural profile analysis (TPA). Top 3 factors were selected and the cumulative contribution to variance was up to 94.62%. Muscle hardness and springiness were the dominant factors.

Key words: freshwater fish, texture profile analysis (TPA), nutritional component, principal component analysis