DO Fish Feel Pain

[Doug1]

OK show your feelings and thoughts.
ps staff choosing the last option will be thrown in a tank of C fleckerii

[Spanky]

I voted.

ROTFL

[Doug1]

Thanks Jerel that narrowed it down

[Casey]

I knew it I knew it

[tims]

i voted too

asking for thought ummmmmmm what if were wrong.

so what are your thoughts doug?

[Doug1]

I think I may have aluded( or is it deluded) to my thoughts on the other thread, unless in my ramble I got off track, if so I blame it on Spanky, his clear concise definate answers always throw me for a loop

[Awestralian]

Now for the hard one...

Do STARFISH feel pain?!?

[tdwyatt]

Intereseting that you bring that up, as they (sea stars) definitely display learned behavior...

[Awestralian]

Well hurting a starfish and whether they feel pain is what spawned the fish pain question.
I just couldnt believe someone was trying to tell me fish dont feel pain.
I might have believed it if they had of just said stars instead of stars AND fish...

[horsehunter]

I don't realy think cold blooded critters feel pain as we know it. I think when a fish reacts to a hook it is fright rather than pain. I have implanted radio transmitters, stainless tags, and fin clipped fish without seeing any reaction that I thought was pain.

I see that most of you feel that fish experience pain and would be interested in hearing on what you base this.

One thing I do know that when I had one barb of a treble hook in my hand and the other two were in a thrashing 4 foot fish I felt pain.

Frank

[Spanky]

That would do it for me too! LOL

[htoler]

well get a fish or starfish and get a knife and cut a leg off of the starfish or a tail off of a fish and watch them squirm ,, and then see what you think about weather or not they feel it...

[tdwyatt]

Not to take sides on the issue, but remember that pain requires brain receptors for pain to be experienced. Evidence this by something we all can or have experienced, nerve blocks; as in when you get lidocaine or any other localized anesthetic or depolarizing neuronal agent. These procedures work because we can prevent the transmission of the afferent nerve fiber impulses for pain during invasive procedures like scalpel incisions, dental extractions, or localized painful or traumatic medical procedures (suturing...) to the brain. The procedure still generates the nerve impulses, the trauma still occurs, but we do not perceive the pain as such because the message is blocked from the brain. Birthing pain may be reduced to the sensation of pressure or motion by blocking the inpulses of pain from the pelvic area with a spinal block. Pain, or some sensation of damage, is a protective mechanism, it occurs because continuing to perform actions that cause pain are usually destructive to the organism. Without a brain of sufficient development, there is little possibility that pain is perceived as such, more that there is some sensation of damage or pressure or light, etc., to which the organism is sensitive and responsive. Fish are of sufficient CNS development that they may perceive pain, as they respond to a number of stimuli in their environment and use many senses to hunt for food/prey, find mates, and avoid predation or trauma. Seastars, on the other hand, may be more like the cartoon of Patrick the seastar of SpongeBob fame than we realize...

If you were to poke a starfish underneath and it reacts.Then it probably feels pain. Anything live that reacts to a poke probably feels pain.

[manderson0805]

I'm with Horsehunter....I've heard serveral times that when a fish gets hooked, it's not feeling any pain, it's just trying to get away from the pulling of the line. As far as the squirming, you squirm when you get tickled, don't you??