A rather creepy TikTok video has gone viral after a seemingly dead fish came back to life to haunt the man who decided to fry it for his lunch.
Take a look below, if you dare:
The fish was cooked by an unsuspecting Mr Wen, living in Zhengzhou, China who was shocked to find it suddenly flailing about in the pan when he turned on the heat.
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Users were baffled by the video - that is notably not the nicest sight for vegetarians - as they joined forces to try to find a rational explanation for the fish haunting.
One user speculated: “The fish was indeed dead, but the spine was not removed before going in the pan, which makes the nerves come alive, but the fish was certainly dead.”
Another said: "I have seen this before. When a seafood restaurant was cooking octopus, the tentacles started moving even though the chef had already cut them into pieces. It must be the same principle."
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Another even joked: "Buying this kind of fish is better because it means it is fresher." There’s something for everyone I suppose!
Thankfully, for the faint of hearted, the ‘zombie’ fish in question had stopped moving before Mr Wen served it to its wife.
However, could this potentially all be a ruse from the fish who actually wanted to be ingested in order to possess Mrs Wen’s body? Pretty sure I’ve seen enough horror films to speculate that something ‘fishy’ must be going on here...
Notably, this is also not the first case of Zombie fish as another TikTok user -@becksshines - filmed a fish of hers going crazy in the oven... and this one didn’t even have a head!
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Despite the speculation over the haunting of the fishes, apparently science has a reasonable explanation for the whole thing.
A chemistry professor told Discovery News after a similar 2018 ‘haunting’: “Most of the tissue is actually still alive.”
Was this comment supposed to make us feel better?
They continued: "Cell metabolites are nearly intact, membrane voltages or potentials that exist in nerve cells are probably still close to intact.”
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Apparently "Even though the brain function is missing, the tissues will still respond to stimuli."
Well, there you go - hopefully that puts a stop to any zombie-fish based nightmares you may experience after witnessing the horrifying video.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Weird, Animals, China, Viral, TikTok