The right way to kill a fish

The most popular way to kill fish isn’t great for the fish — or our taste buds.
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Most fish die the same way — slow suffocation in the open air. It’s easy for fishers, but it causes fish tons of stress, and floods their bodies with chemicals like cortisol, adrenaline, and lactic acid. Those chemicals make the fish taste bad, smell “fishy,” and rot quickly. 

But there's a better way: a four-step Japanese method called ikejime. It involves sharp knives. And a brain spike. 

We adapted this video from Vox’s Future Perfect podcast, which goes much more in depth on ikejime:

Cat Ferguson wrote a detailed article on the process at Topic:

This article about fish and pain from the Smithsonian informed reporting:

And here’s a link to the Ike Jime Federation, where Andrew is the president:

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