To monitor promptly changes of quality characteristics and predict shelf life of half-smooth tongue sole(HTS) fillets during cold store, HTS fillets were stored at 270, 273, 277, 283 K and sensory evaluation, physicochemical properties (electrical conductivity, dripping loss, cooking loss, TVB-N value and K value), and the total viable counts were measured regularly. Besides, the shelf-life model of every index varying with storage temperature and storage time was established by using first-order kinetic model combined with Arrhenius equation, which was further verified using quality changes of HTS fillets at 280 K. The results showed that the sensory evaluation values decreased with the extension of storage time, while the physicochemical and microbial indexes showed an upward trend. Furthermore, the kinetic models constructed with all indexes had excellent accuracy. And the relative error was less than ±10% between predicted shelf life and actually measured shelf life of all indicators, especially the models of TVB-N value and cooking loss. Above results demonstrated that first-order kinetic model combined with Arrhenius equation has great significance and practical guides in the evaluation of quality characteristics and prediction of shelf life of HTS fillets during cold chain logistics process.