The rheological properties of fish meat pastes were investigated by dynamic theological measurement in a range of 5-30 degrees C, in order to establish the optimum temperatures for shaping. Storage moduli (G') on temperature sweep analysis for walleye pollack, white croaker and threadfin bream meat pastes were considerably higher than loss moduli (G") and showed maximum at 20, 27 and 28 degrees C, respectively. Frequency sweep analysis and SDS-PAGE revealed that all meat pastes hardly formed suwari gels upon heating until 30 degrees C. The maximal degrees of recovered G' were observed at 20 and 30 degrees C for walleye pollack and threadfin bream meat pastes by interval thixotropy analysis, respectively. On the other hand, the G' recovery of white croaker meat paste was almost constant in a range of 5-25 degrees C but markedly decreased at 30 degrees C. These results suggest that the rheological properties of walleye pollack, white croaker and threadfin bream meat pastes are species-specific and their optimum temperatures for shaping are at 20 degrees C, below 25 degrees C and at 28 degrees C respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.