The photo isn’t related to this post, I just thought the fact that someone had dressed some roadkill in an awful purple dress was pretty funny…
This post is about dead animals who dance though ‘cos I know that’s what you all want to see during your lunch break, right? The videos below show what happens when you pour salt (or soya sauce) on a dead squid/frog/fish. If you want to know why it happens check out the explanation under the videos, in the mean time I’m off to China town to find me some dancing squid.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KVZ9q1oUI’]
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZJt_Bw3eo’]
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Rk2JfujTQ’]
Because this squid was just killed, its muscle cells were still intact and operational. A live squid moves it tentacles by sending an electrical command from its brain to its muscles. The commands say “contract” or “relax.” But since this animal lost its head, its brain can’t send signals. Salt [from the soy sauce] acts as a substitute.
Extra sodium (the salt) sends ions to the cell that trigger the cell to open up, creating a cascade of chemical activities that causes the cell to fire, so the muscle twitches.
Pretty nasty right? Here’s some Japanese dude eating a real live squid in some kind of tourism advert for a place called Hakodate, gnarly!
