A fried fish proved it was not ready to be eaten just yet when it began to twitch on a dinner plate.

The seemingly dead fish came back to life in front of stunned diners in Hengyang, Hunan Province in southern China - and the whole thing was caught on camera.

Placed next to other fried fish, the video shows the fried fish twitch slightly before beginning to flail around - at which point a female patron begins to yell.

The woman can be heard screaming: "Oh no, no, no! It's cracking!" as the fish begins to jerk its flesh open.

Uploaded to Chinese social media site Weibo, the video has people horrified - and we can see why.

Although the fish looks dead, the video has many people raising concerns about animal abuse - with some believing the fish is suffering.

However, according to IFLScience, the fish is quite dead - its body just does not know it yet.

According to IFLScience, the creepy phenomenon, which is apparently quite common, happens because: “Although the brain and heart are not functioning, there are cells that can still respond to stimuli,” and “Immediately after death, motor neurons maintain some membrane potential, or difference in ion charge, which then starts a domino effect down neural pathways causing movement.”

However, the general consensus on social media was the fish was not cooked fully enough for consumption.