People Are Freaking Out Over This Video Of A Fish Still Flailing After Being Cut In Half

#1 Yutaka Suzuki, posted a video of the fish still moving, flailing around as if it were trying to escape the tray it had been placed in.

#2 It’s a mighty weird thing to do when you’ve been killed and bisected.

Suzuki’s caption roughly translates to: “The vitality of the fish is amazing”. He’s not wrong.

#3 We do have some good news, though. The fish is long dead, and not feeling any pain at all.

#4 So why is this happening? It turns out this comes down to biology, the secrets of which some chefs exploit to get more attention to their product.

#5 According to Christie Wilcox of Scientific American

The muscles of a fish that was just killed are so fresh that its neurons are still completely intact. Add some sodium ions from salt to the exposed muscles and you'll trigger the neurons, which will signal to the muscles to contract.

#6 So a dead fish will continue to move about until they use up all their energy stores.

#7 Remember the video of the squid that moves around once it’s sprinkled with soy?

Same thing.

So to repeat, the fish isn’t in any pain and isn’t alive.

#8 But that didn't stop Twitter from being any less terrified.

#9 Watch the video here: