| Abstract Tambaqui is the main fish species farmed in the Amazon. It is produced on industrial scale, slaughtered in the field, primarily by post-harvest asphyxia. This procedure, however, is stressful because it depletes energy reserves that should be used in postmortem metabolism, which may compromise fish meat freshness and quality. The present study compared the quality of tambaquis slaughtered by asphyxia, the conventional industrial method, and hypothermia. Tambaquis weighing around 1.6 kg were harvested from dugout ponds, transported to experimental tanks and allowed to recover from transport stress for 48h. Biological parameters of fish were evaluated alive post- harvest (Harv), transport (Tr) and recovery (Rc), and postmortem analysis was performed... |
