Ikejime

[King Saba]

It works. Even simply bleeding fish out makes a world of difference as far as preserving the freshness of the meat. Remember that the flesh of fish is very delicate so any additional stress that a fish experiences breaks down the structure and fibers of the meat. Ike-jime destroys the nervous system thus preventing the flesh from breaking down at a faster rate. I have this debate with my dad all the time. He holds firm in the belief that a live stressed out fish tastes fresher than a properly killed, bled, and chilled fish. It's like comparing factory farmed beef to wagyu.