Stinky mandarin fish was fermented at low temperature （8 ℃） with mandarin fish as raw material. The dependences of texture， color and volatile compounds in stinky mandarin fish during fermentation were studied. The results showed that the color， texture and volatile compounds of mandarin fish exhibited reasonable changes during fermentation. The lightness of fish increased first and then decreased slightly throughout the whole fermentation； both a* and b* showed a gradual decline trend. The comprehensive change of color index made the fish white and bright after fermentation. The trend of hardness， cohesiveness， gumminess， chewiness and resilience were all decreased first and then increased； adhesiveness was increased significantly at the beginning of the fermentation and then stabilized， but springing was increased gradually. The hardness of smelly mandarin fish was slightly lower than that of the fresh mandarin fish， others were increased. The composition and content of volatile compounds were gradually increasing. The fermented mature fish contained many kinds of aromatic components such as linalool， limonene， alpha-terpineol and 4-methyl-2-pentanone more components et al.