During frozen storage of certain lean species of fish, formaldehyde (FA) is formed, giving rise to changes in texture related to the formation of aggregates of myofibrillar proteins. In order to study these aggregates a model system was prepared with natural actomyosin (NAM) (5 mg/ml) and increasing concentrations of formaldehyde. The system was stored frozen at-20° C for 2 months during which solubility in 0.6 M NaCl, Ca2+ATPase activity,cis-parinaric acid (CPA) hydrophobicity, SH groups and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) were measured. — FA caused an immediate loss of Ca2+ATPase activity and a decline in soluble protein and CPA hydrophobicity, an effect that was enhanced when the samples were frozen. The electrophoretic profiles of the proteins that remained soluble showed that in both fresh and frozen samples, when FA reacts with NAM the first protein to be insolubilised is myosin, followed by actin, then the troponins and myosin light chains and lastly tropomyosin, depending on the amount of FA and the reaction time. Aggregates of high molecular mass were found at early stages, probably as a result of covalent binding of myosin molecules. When the amount of FA or the frozen storage time was increased, these aggregates became insoluble, forming high-molecular-mass structures and hence were not found in the soluble fraction.