As a new type of green farming mode, internal-circulation pond aquaculture (IPA) adopts the concept of “fish farming in ponds and water purifying outside ponds” and relatively closed self-repairing technology to achieve the requirements of sustainable development of fisheries. However, little is known about the effect of this farming mode on fish muscle nutritional quality. To investigate the difference in muscle quality of Ictalurus punctatus reared from internal-circulation pond aquaculture and traditional pond aquaculture (TPA), the texture and fiber characteristics of muscle were determined by texture analyzer and the nutritional components of three parts of muscles (back, abdomen and tail) were determined by biochemical analysis. The results showed that the crude protein content of tail muscle in IPA group was significantly higher than that in TPA group (P<0.05) and the crude fat content of back and tail muscle in IPA group was significantly lower than that in TPA group (P<0.05). The total amount of amino acids, essential amino acids and fresh amino acids in back muscle of IPA group were significantly higher than those in TPA group (P<0.05). Besides, the total amount of essential amino acids and fresh amino acids in abdominal muscle of IPA group were significantly higher than those in TPA group (P<0.05). Among the 17 fatty acids identified, significantly lower myristic acid and higher EPA were found in the three parts of muscles of IPA group than that in TPA group (P<0.05). The total amount of PUFA in back and abdominal muscles in IPA group were significantly higher than those in TPA group (P<0.05). In terms of the texture profile, the hardness, springiness, chewiness and resilience in muscle of I. punctatus in IPA group were enhanced significantly compared with those in TPA group (P<0.05), and the muscle fibers in the IPA group had the characteristics of small diameter and high density. Overall, these results suggested that I. punctatus reared from IPA model has greater advantages in muscle quality and nutrition.