In order to investigate the relationship between the quality characteristics and the shelf life of Scophthalmus maximus at different storage temperatures, Scophthalmus maximus was stored at -3 ℃, 0 ℃, 4 ℃, 10 ℃ and 15 ℃. The changes of sensory quality, TVB-N, total viable count (TVC), TBA value and electrical conductivity were measured. The microstructure of the muscle was observed and the water migration in the fish was analyzed by Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The dynamic model of TVB-N, TVC, storage time and temperature was established. It was found that with the storage time increasing, the water not easy to flow in fishes was decreased at five different storage temperatures. Compared with fresh fish, the muscle fiber structure of samples at different storage temperatures changed from compact to loose at the end of the shelf life. The activation energy and pre-exponential factors in the prediction model for changes of TVB-N and TVC were respectively 79.50, 75.07 kJ/mol and 1.3×1014, 7.62×1012. The verification experiment was conducted at 10 ℃. The result shows that the relative error between the measured value and the predicated value was within 10%. Therefore, the shelf life of Scophthalmus maximus stored at -3 ℃ ~15 ℃ can be predicted based on TVB-N and TVC.