Dead fish cut in half continues to thrash about
A bizarre video has emerged of a dead tuna fish cut in half continuing to thrash around at a Japanese market.
The video, uploaded by Yutaka Suzuki, has been viewed more than 6.3 million times prompting questions as to how the fish could still be alive.
The tuna’s spine is clearly exposed yet it continues to dance around in a plastic container for more than a minute and a half.
Some Twitter users suggested the fish’s nerve endings weren’t properly severed.
Japanese fishermen practice a method called ikejime, which causes the brain to die when a spike is inserted into the fish’s hindbrain.
But according to Japanese chef Yoshinori Ishii ikejime doesn’t always cause the fish to stop moving.
“When it’s been killed with ikejime and kept in an ice freezer, the next day, the meat still moves – not alive, but the meat doesn’t know it’s dead,” he writes in Life Skills: Can You Humanely Kill A Fish?
It’s believed the method improves the taste of the fish.
