crappie color

[kiowa]

I was cleaning a nice crappie last night and noticed a bright pink iridescence to the meat after washing. Any idea what causes this effect? It appeared to a healthy animal. The water was slightly stained.

[BehindtheHead]

i had the same thing on a northern i cleaned yesterday. i have seen it before and i didnt die so im not woried about it.

[B-man715]

It only happens when the light hits the Mercury just right......

J/K If you look close at a lot of different meats you will notice it. Roast beef in particular. For fish, I notice it most in sunfish and crappies for some reason too.

Found a little more on it.

Q What causes the shiny, rainbow appearance on some cured meats?

A A natural phenomenon in cured meat (and some fresh meat) is the occurrence of iridescence or a rainbow appearance on the cut lean surface. Technically, this is referred to as birefringence. It is caused by the reflectance of light off of muscle proteins, and it is analogous to the color distribution produced by a prism. Muscle proteins are arranged in strands called myofilaments, which are bound together to form myofibrils. Myofibrils are bound together to form muscle fibers, which form together to form muscle bundles and finally whole muscles. When the myofilaments are cut at the appropriate angle, exposing a cross section of the myofilaments, the reflectance of light off the proteins produces the characteristic appearance associated with iridescence.