Histological discrimination of fresh from frozen/thawed carp (Cyprinus carpio)

The aim of the study was to perform histological differentiation of dorsal and ventral musculature of fresh and frozen/thawed carps (Cyprinus carpio). Histological findings of muscle fibres (Myofibra striata) of fresh carps did not show any changes. Single freezing at –10 ºС resulted in extracellular gaps in the central part of some of fibres. After single freezing at –18 ºС, muscle fibres with cell destruction in the central part were identified while the periphery remained intact. Completely destructured and deformed areas of muscle fibres were demonstrated after single freezing at –27 ºС. Double freezing at –10 ºС resulted in shrinkage, extracellular gaps and fragmentation of fibres, while muscle fibres double-frozen at –18 ºС were impaired, degraded and with visible defects. The histological findings in carp muscle, double-frozen at –27 ºС comprised severely deformed muscle fibres with increased extracellular gaps from degraded muscle tissue. On the basis of findings, it could be concluded that double freezing of carps was not an appropriate method of storage and shelf-life extension.