author(s)
S Karki, S Chowdhury, S Nath, P Murmu and KC Dora

abstract
Neolissochilus hexagonolepis, a potential candidate species for aquaculture, have suffered from severe declines. The year round harvested fresh fish samples were graded into small (<50 g), medium (51-150 g) and large fish (>150 g) and sampled according to the stages i.e. I (Sept-Dec), II (Jan-Feb), III (March-May) and IV (June-Aug). Analysis of seasonal variation showed that small fish dominated in terms of moisture content (80.08±0.69%) and hardness values (3277.73±101.03g) while the large fish contains highest fat (8.18±0.58%) and ash; highest protein content (20.15±0.65%) was seen in the medium size group. Though the medium fish had properties deeming to be presented to the consumers in its expected state, the breaking down of the fish flesh while eating being same within the groups due to insignificant (p>0.05) values of springiness ranging 0.86±0.00 and 0.88±0.03 for the samples is also a remarkable finding of the study.