Crucian carp Carassius carassius L., Skate-fish Parasilurus asolus, snake head Ophicephalus argus and loaches Misgrunus anguillicaudatus have been esteemed as the tasty fresh water fish in Korea. However, a little has been studied on their taste compounds. Amino acids, nucleotides and their related compounds as the taste giving substance in the dorsal muscle of crucian carp, skate-fish, snake head and loaches were analyzed. Hypoxanthine (4.6-30.3 ${\mu}mole/g$, on dry base) was dominant among the nucleotide materials in the dorsal muscle of crucian carp, skate-fish, and snake head while IMP (12.8 ${\mu}mole/g$) was detected with the highest amount in loaches meat. IMP was also high in the muscle of skate-fish (13.5 ${\mu}mole/g$) and snake head (5.6 ${\mu}mole/g$). The other nucleotide materials, CMP, UMP, GMP, AMP, and inosine were present less than 2.0 ${\mu}mole/g$ in all the fish meat. The amino acid composition showed that glutamic acid and aspartic acid were the most abundant in the dorsal muscle of crucian carp, skate-fish, snake head and loaches. The analysis of free amino acids showed that histidine, lysine, glycine, and serine were the leading amino acids in the dorsal muscle of crucian carp, alanine, serine, and lysine were of skatefish, glycine, lysine, alanine, and serine were of snake head, while alanine, serine, and glycine were of loaches. Isoleucine and leucine were detected in trace amount in the muscle of skate-fish, snake head, and loaches. It is believed that alanine, Iysine, serine, glycine and histidine along with IMP and hypoxanthine may play an important role as the taste compounds in fresh water fish.