To explore the taste changes of pearl gentian grouper during the process of waterless keep alive, the taste changes of pearl gentian grouper after 0,3, 6,9, 12h waterless keep alive were studied through analysis results of electronic tongue and measuring indicators of nucleotides, organic acids and free amino acids. The results showed that in PCA analysis of electronic tongue, the cumulative contribution rate of PC1 and PC2 was 90.29%, which could reflect the overall characteristics of the samples. Compared with fresh samples, the umami and kokumi taste value increased significantly after waterless keep alive, reaching 3.52 and 5.00 at 12h, respectively. The nucleotide content increased first and then decreased. After 3h waterless keep alive, AMP and IMP reached the maximum values of 9.0mg/100g and 465.0mg/100g, respectively. The overall trend of organic acids was increasing. The lactic acid content of each treatment group was significantly different (P<0.05), and the maximum value of lactic acid was 158.70mg/g after 12h waterless keep alive. The TAV values of succinic acid, lactic acid and citric acid in all treatment groups were greater than 1, indicating that organic acids had an important contribution to the taste of grouper. Total free amino acids, umami amino acids and sweet amino acids all showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. After 3 h waterless keep alive, the maximum values of umami amino acids Glu and Asp were 41.50mg/100g and 7.29mg/100g, which were significantly higher than those of 8.54mg/100g and 0.60mg/100g in fresh samples, respectively. In conclusion, waterless keep alive could improve the taste of pearl gentian grouper and enhance the nutritional value of grouper protein.