Frozen sprats (Sprattus sprattus sprattus) were thawed and separated into three lots: two lots were wrapped and kept chilled in a refngerator at 4C, one wrapped in aluminum foil (AF), the other in cling film (CF) and a third lot left unpackaged and held in melting ice. Biochemical tests, pegormed at intervals over a 16-day period, showed better quality and an extension of shelf-life for sprats stored unpackaged in ice compared with those held at 4Cpacked in AF or CF. I I e levels of triimethylamine oxide-nitrogen (TMAO-N) decreased throughout storage and significant diflerences (P < 0.05) were observed between the lot in ice and the lots stored in AF or CF (P < 0.05). However, significant diferences (P < 0.05) were not observed between AF and CF lots during the experiment. Increases in total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) and trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N) were significantly retarded, as were reductions in sensoly quality, in the ice-stored fish compared with packaged, refngeratedfish.' The work was carried out m: