Fancy a tarantula taco for a cool $27? Not so fast, Mexican authorities say. A Mexico City market restaurant recently put the arachnids on its menu and posted a video on Facebook showing a chef torching one until blackened. The only problem: The Mexican red rump tarantula is a protected species. The federal environmental protection agency said Tuesday it was alerted to the situation via social media and seized four tarantula corpses that were ready to be served upon tortillas.
The tarantula tacos were apparently on offer for 500 pesos, or 50 times the price of a basic street taco. A Facebook video shows the tacos being made. The seared tarantula is paired with a hot tortilla, avocado and just a sprinkle of lime and lemon juice. The crunchy arachnid is said to taste like a cross between chicken and cod, the Telegraph reports. The tarantula tacos were apparently on offer for 500 pesos, or 50 times the price of a basic street taco.
The restaurant’s menu also features other creepy-crawlies such as grasshoppers, worms and ant eggs, which have a long tradition in Mexican cuisine, and scorpions, which are less common. The Mexican red rump tarantula is about four to five inches across but females can grow to six inches. Most females live up to 25 years while males mature within two years, Tarantula Heaven reports. They have low toxicity in their venom but can become rather aggressive and skittish when need be.