Behaviour of connective tissue in fish surimi on fractionation by sieving

The surimis prepared from the three fish species, red barracuda Sphyraena pinguis, yellow sea bream Dentex tumifrons, and spotted shark Mustelus manazo, were fractionated by sieving through a 30-mesh stainless steel sieve. Chemical analyses revealed significant differences in the collagen content among the residual fraction on the sieve (fraction A), the passed fraction (fraction C), and the original surimi before sieving (fraction B): the fractions A and B showed values 10–20 and 5–10 times higher than those of the fraction C, respectively, for all the species examined. Histological observation indicated the richness of the thick connective tissues derived from myocommata in fractions A and B, while thick connective tissue was hardly observed in fraction C. These results suggested that the present fractionation method may have an effect of reducing the collagen content to about 10–20% of the original value, and that a large part of collagen in fish surimi exists in the relatively thick connective tissue, probably derived from myocommata.