--- title: Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Escape Hotpot in China description: About to be boiled alive for dinner, a crayfish amputated its own claw to escape a pot of boiling broth at a restaurant in China canonical: https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-04T08:28:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:12.605Z og:title: Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Escape Hotpot in China og:description: A diner claims he adopted the courageous critter and took it home as a pet og:url: https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84ba18c4ad6a39f6/6989322bdb29877fbc25fd81/gettyimages-601132304.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Crayfish og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Escape Hotpot in China twitter:description: A diner claims he adopted the courageous critter and took it home as a pet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84ba18c4ad6a39f6/6989322bdb29877fbc25fd81/gettyimages-601132304.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Avoid Being Boiled Alive in a Hotpot by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jun 4, 2018 8:28 AM UTC  A crayfish with raised claws. A crayfish with raised claws.Andia—UIG/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jun 4, 2018 8:28 AM UTC Just about everyone has probably found themselves in hot water at some point, but few would go so far as to cut off their own arm to escape. One courageous crustacean has served up a reminder that where there’s a will, there’s a way. About to be boiled alive for dinner, a crayfish was captured on video amputating its own claw to escape a pot of boiling broth at a restaurant in China last week. The 11-second clip has since gone viral on Chinese social media platform Weibo, the Straits _Times_ reports. The [video](https://www.facebook.com/KATOTAKA2.0/videos/2129960620371744/), which has already garnered more than a million views on Facebook, shows the crayfish on the edge of the pot using its right claw to rip off its left one,which appeared immobile. The diner who captured the video, known as “Jiuke” on Weibo, claims to have adopted the critter and taken it home as a pet. “I let him live, I already took him home and I’m raising him in an aquarium,” he said, according to the _Times_. Whether he ate the claw his new pet abandoned in the bubbling soup remains unclear. As fearless as the move may seem, these freshwater crustaceans have the ability to regrow lost limbs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/"},"headline":"A Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Avoid Being Boiled Alive in a Hotpot","datePublished":"2018-06-04T08:28:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:12.605Z","description":"A diner claims he adopted the courageous critter and took it home as a pet","url":"https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","China","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84ba18c4ad6a39f6/6989322bdb29877fbc25fd81/gettyimages-601132304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84ba18c4ad6a39f6/6989322bdb29877fbc25fd81/gettyimages-601132304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Crayfish","caption":"Crayfish","creditText":"Andia—UIG/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5299950/china-crayfish-escapes-hotpot/","name":"A Crayfish Amputated Its Own Claw to Avoid Being Boiled Alive in a Hotpot"}}]}] ```