The connective tissues of fish. IV. Gaping of cod muscle under various conditions of freezing, cold‐storage and thawing

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Abstract
Summary: The rate at which whole cod were frozen was shown to have little effect on the gaping of the fillets cut after thawing, though very slow freezing did cause a small increase. Cold storage at ‐ 14°C to produce varying degrees of muscle protein denaturation did not affect gaping, neither did the manner of thawing (four methods used). However, the experiments, involving hundreds of fish amply confirmed that gaping increases when the fish are frozen after entering rigor mortis (compared with pre‐rigor) and increases again if they are frozen after a longer time in melting ice.Removing the skin before freezing the whole gutted fish was shown to reduce the gaping, presumably by reducing the tension on the myocommata. the greatest reduction was obtained with fish skinned in rigor mortis, where muscular tension is greatest.Haddock always gaped more than whiting, although they are very similar related fish, and were selected to be of similar lengths. the present work showed that the ultimate pH of the two species was very different, that of haddock being lower. the difference in pH probably accounts for the difference in gaping, but the reason for the two species having such a disparity in pH is not known. It may relate to differences in intrinsic activity.

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