Abstract:By comparison of the muscle quality and nutritional components of farmed large yellow croaker from Zhoushan， wild large yellow croaker from Zhoushan， and wild large yellow croaker from Nantong， and integration of evaluation indicators including physical indices， nutritional components， free amino acids， flavor nucleotides， texture， and sensory quality， the effects of growth environment on the quality of large yellow croaker were evaluated. The results showed that the wild large yellow croaker from Zhoushan was the best in terms of taste， texture （hardness， springiness， and chewiness）， and water-holding capacity （P<0.05）. The farmed large yellow croaker from Zhoushan had a superior body shape and the highest condition factor（2.12%）， but its muscle crude protein content was lower. Although the total free amino acid content of the farmed large yellow croaker from Zhoushan was higher， the wild large yellow croaker from Zhoushan contained more flavor amino acids and flavor nucleotides， which endowed it with a better flavor. In addition， the farmed large yellow croaker from Zhoushan had lower content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances （TBARS）.This might be influenced by factors such as feed， fat composition， and fishing-storage methods， which led to a lower degree of lipid oxidation. The wild large yellow croaker from Zhoushan had a higher pH value and a lower water loss rate， thus demonstrating better muscle freshness. The correlation analysis indicated that the fish meat with high moisture content was more likely to lose water， which affected the stability of texture. However，the fish meat with high protein and low fat content was generally more compact and had better springiness.Comprehensively， the wild large yellow croaker from Zhoushan had greater advantages in nutrition， texture，and flavor. Meanwhile， the farmed large yellow croaker from Zhoushan showed higher cost-effectiveness due to its high free amino acid content and controllable processing and storage conditions.