Compared to other foodstuffs that can be kept for weeks/months in the right conditions.
In: Biology
That’s partly because of how fish is killed, and where fish comes from.
Many fish we eat live in very cold waters. As a result, many of the organisms that cause decay in fish will happily decompose it even at refrigerator temperatures, and they don’t last long in the fridge.
As for how they’re killed, most fish we eat is killed by suffocation- simply leaving the fish to drown in air. This causes a lot of distress to the fish and it flops around, producing stress hormones and chemicals all the while.
A Japanese fish killing technique, ikejime, aims to prevent these problems by killing the fish quickly and preventing the muscles from spasming and producing bad-tasting chemicals. A bunch of chefs did a taste test here:
http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=1702.html
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