Bleeding of Fish

Bleeding of fish has become a important quality issue over the past few years. Blood spotting of salmon fillets are a major cause of downgrading and will become an even more important quality trait for whitfish as cod. Besides knowing that a major vein ha s to be cut as early as possible post mortem, there exist no knowledge of the factors or mechanisms that enhances or inhibits bleeding of fish muscles. To be able to solve the problems of poor bleeding we suggest four hypotheses for major mechanisms in wh y blood is not drained from the muscles. These are: Increased supply of blood to the muscles prior to death Blood is not drained by force obtained by movement. Increased viscosity of blood and loss of ability to flow. Clotting of the open aorta and veins. Scientifically exploration of these issues could provide direct answers on why poor bleeding does occur. This would be highly beneficial for the R&D potential of this project, since by understanding the mechanisms of bleeding and factors that influences t his, appropriate steps can be taken to avoid poor bleeding. Furthermore, this opens the possibility to make use of direct gutting that would represent a major time and cost reduction for the slaughtering industry