Milkfish keeps twitching hours after deboning, drying in sun
Milkfish keeps twitching hours after deboning, drying in sun
2026-01-12
Would you believe that even after a fish has been caught, brought ashore, killed, and sliced open, it will still keep twitching? A man in Tainan recently left a fish out to dry. But even after it had been gutted and left in the sun for over two hours, it kept trembling, frightening the village chief so much that he tossed it back where it came from. But experts said it was likely just a chemical reaction that caused the muscles to continue twitching long after the fish had died.
A gutted milkfish lays open to dry out in the sun. But the meat on the underside keeps twitching by itself.
Wang Wen-tsai
Longshan Village chief
After catching it, I chilled it in an ice bucket for over 10 hours. Then even after killing it and sun-drying for two hours, it still kept twitching. It’s creepy!
Even when filming it for two minutes straight, the muscle never stopped its rhythmic twitching, frightening the man who got it.
Wang Wen-tsai
Longshan Village chief
After rubbing it in salt, I left it to dry in the sun for about two hours already. When I came over to flip them over, I saw that this one was still moving. I thought it was strange. It looked weird. I’ve never seen anything like this before. So after saying a few words for that fish, I released it.
The village chief often catches fish and brings them home to dry out. But this milkfish, even after catching it, gutting it, and drying it over a half day, even leaving it in the sun for over two hours, the muscles kept twitching like it was still alive. Scared to keep preparing it to eat, he dropped it back into the water.
Lee Tang-ming
Fish breeder
To keep the skin intact, we first electrocute them in the bucket before submerging them in ice water. This prevents the nerves from relaxing. After warming up in the sun, the nerves relax, causing them to twitch.
Sung Sheng-ming
Tainan fishery school director of aquaculture
After an organism dies, calcium continues to be released. That calcium then binds with thick filament, specifically troponin, triggering a pulling action. So it’ll result in that kind of pulsating motion you see here.
Experts say the movement likely was because of a chemical reaction that happened after the fish died. But that didn’t stop this bizarre phenomenon from capturing people’s imagination.
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#fish #milkfish #creepy #Tainan #driedfish #fisherman #seafood #zombie #chemicalreaction
抖抖! 虱目魚剖開曬一夜干曝曬2小時魚肉竟然在抖
2026-01-12
你相信嗎，居然有魚捕撈上岸、宰殺到切片後，魚肉片還在不停顫動？台南一位民眾買魚回家做一夜干，不料其中一條魚已經被剖開晾曬兩小時以上，竟在太陽底下不斷顫抖，嚇得里長將魚拿去放生，不過專家推測，很可能是魚體內死亡後的化學反應，才會造成肌肉跳動。
這塊太陽底下的虱目魚，正準備晾曬成一夜干，但這塊魚肉下方的組織，卻不停抖動。
[[台南市七股區龍山里長 王文財]]
“抓起來冰在冰桶裡面，也冰超過10小時了，竟然宰了之後，宰了曬太陽兩小時，還會抖動，看了也毛毛的。”
連續拍攝超過兩分鐘，這塊魚肉仍規律的抖動，讓買魚來做一夜干的民眾，整個發毛。
[[台南市七股區龍山里長 王文財]]
“搓鹽搓完在這邊曬太陽，已經曬差不多兩小時了，我打算來幫牠翻面的時候，怎看到這條魚還在震動啦，讓我看了感覺怪怪，看了怪怪。沒有遇過這種情形，所以那尾魚我唸了好話之後，我又把他放生了。”
王里長常常抓魚、殺魚跟製作一夜干，但晾曬這塊魚片時，從撈捕虱目魚、處理跟曬乾已經過了十幾個小時，又在太陽底下曝曬超過兩小時，魚肉顫抖的樣子，宛如這條魚還活著一樣，讓他嚇得拿直接去放生，不敢繼續製作。
[[養殖業者李堂銘]]
“為了保持魚皮完整，所以我們在先水中先把牠電死，打入水冰後，所以牠的神經沒有放輕鬆，曬太陽回溫之後，神經放輕鬆後所以就會顫抖。”
[[國立台南海事養殖科主任 宋晟銘]]
“就是生物在死掉之後，鈣就會不斷被釋放出來，然後鈣就會和粗絲的，那個肌鈣蛋白做結合，拉扯的一個現象，所以就會出現像你所看到，跳動的這樣一個過程。”
養殖專家說，應該是魚體死亡後，產生的化學反應。魚片被剖開還會跳動的離奇現象，引發熱烈討論。
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