We compared the muscle constituents and quality of age 2, 4, and 6 wild and cultured Heilongjiang Province. There was no significant difference in muscle components between wild and cultured populations of>0.05). However, the moisture and crude protein contents were significantly higher in the wild population than in the cultured population. Conversely, the crude fat content was significantly lower in wild population than in the cultured population (<0.05) for both age 2 and age 4 fish. Compared with the common farmed fish, the Ca and P content of wild in Xingkai Lake was high and there was no difference in amino adid composition in wild and cultured populations. Of the amino acids, glycine was the most common, followed by glutamate and lysine. The total amino acid (TAA), EAA), and delicious amino acid contents were significantly higher in the wild population than in the cultured population for age 4 and 6 individuals (<0.05). Our results suggest that theproteincontentis highin both the wildandculturedpopulationsof in Xingkai Lakeand that these fish have highnutritionalandedible value. Compared with the cultured population, the nutritional value and taste of the meat was superior in the wild population, and this advantage increased with the age of the fish. Our data provide a basis for evaluating the nutritional value of and for developing manufactured feed for cultured fish. Based on our observations, artificial feeds for in Xingkai Lake should include methionine and cystine to improve the nutritional value whereas glycine and glutamic acid should be added to improve the flavor of cultured fish.