Do fish feel pain?

[Renneberg]

The answer according to the largest study ever undertaken on fish neurology, is no.

What is everyones take on this? Do you feel fish feel pain or not, and why?

I personally do feel that fish feel pain to some degree. That is why we are always thinking of new lures and lure colors to catch them, because over time a bass for example learns a white spinner bait hurts but of they have never seen a bubble gum colored one they don't know it hurts, so they bite it.

[DARK30]

They Scream! ouch! ooch! ooch! ouch!....Those poor things. I know sometimes the fisherman can feel pain too! "Ouch! You little $#@#$@! come ear!"

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Guest]

Remember sitting in the house with your old man and throwing bait on the heater?,........Either they were trying to swim really fast or they were screaming "Ouch ouch ouch ouch!" So I guess minnows feel pain and the big fish don't

[Valv]

You guys are MONSTERS !!! I will send a message to PETA right away, they'll run your a$$ forever !!!

Bigguns1, which kind of games were you playing ? I remeber marbles and toy soldiers, but not tossing minnows on heaters.

[Aquaman01]

I asked myself that before - seriously. Fish's itty bitty brains don't feel pain like we do. They feel discomfort and respond.
(what's the difference?)
The minnows on the heater (sick - ) didn't feel a burning pain, but a rapid rise in temp and their reflex was to try to flee. A hooked fish feels a pulling on them that shouldn't be there, so they also try to flee. Sucker minnows don't care one way or another whether they have a hook in 'em, but they flip right out when they're taken out of water.

If I thought for a minute that I was needlessly inflicting pain on the fish I'd stop...
briefly...
and cast again.

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Aquaman
< )/////><{
"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat."

[setterguy]

I've always said that a lot less guys would fish if they screamed like a stuck pig when you took them out of the water, I'm sure glad they don't!!!!

[Seabass77]

A very un-biased report (In-fisherman) said that fish have a stem do-hickey and humans, among a few other creatures, have lobe do-hickeys, and that pain was directly related to stress, which comes only from creatures with lobe do-hickeys. Since fish don't have stress, (nervous stress that is) they don't have pain either.

Please keep in mind I read that article about 3 years ago and I just pulled the above garbage out of my *ss. But, that's what I remember.

[Bobb-o]

there is also an article in the January 2003 issue of Bassmaster. It says,

"The fundamental neural requirements for pain and suffering are now known. Fishes lack the most important of these required neural structures, and they have no alternative neural systems for producing the pain experience.

"Therefore, the reactions of fishes to noxious stimuli....are without concious awareness of pain. The evidence supporting this conclusion is extensive and diverse, thus permitting a high degree of confidence in its correctness."

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"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

[Seabass77]

Like I said, do-hickey.

[Renneberg]

I forgot to add that no fish were hooked in the study and the final answer is based on what they know about the fishes brain.

Bigguns1, no my dad showed me that minnows on a hook, in the water, catch more fish.

Didn't the smell of burning minnow make you stick your head out of the house for a while?
I remember a buddy in college droped a hot dog on the heater and couldn't get it out. Man did that smell bad!

[shadman2]

I don't know the answer except that every time I hook a Rock Bass I ask him if he felt any pain, I only get a blank stare in response. I don't think they feel any pain.

[ladylikestofish]

I feel a lot better about the "torture" I inflict on fish now... thanks!

[Aquaman01]

Think of the stories the ones we release can tell!

"I started to eat this good looking fish, when suddenly I was drawn up towards a bright light. There was this thing...some kind of ship...from the air, and it had strange, huge creatures in it. They pulled on my face, inspected me, took some measurements and a "pick-chur" then gently returned me to the water. I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth!"

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Aquaman
< )/////><{
"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat."

[Steve Foss]

Another question is whether animals/birds/fish/plants feel "pain" as we do.

Even if some of the above have the right do-hickeys in their neurological systems so that physical discomfort feels extreme (pain), it doesn't necessarily mean their brains interpret the signal the same way we do.

So while sciene may be able to tell us whether the equipment is there, there's no way to know how that equipment is used except to become one of those species.

In other words, we'll probably never know.

As humans, we kill other living things for our survival. Most other living things also kill other living things for their survival.

So I chose to kill, and survive.

Take THAT, PETA!

[united jigsticker]

I saw a fishing program quite a while back where the host was saying how Rock Bass are rough fish and should be done away with.

He went on to say that when he would catch one, he would place it on the floor of the boat and spin it as fast he could.

When the Rock Bass was dropped back into the water, yep thats right, it swam in circles in a dizzy furry on its side.

Funny stuff , but I don't think that would go over well these days.

Fish On! Fish Off! ::Guzzle::

[Guest]

Aqua..ROTFLMAO!!

So are fish who are "Abducted" looked upon in the world of fish as crazy much like the humans who say they have seen "vistiors" are?

".....the creatures held me while they used this long stainless steel object to probe my mouth and remove the sharp curved object...what was worse was that they pulled the tasty fish from my mouth so that I would go hungry as well......"
BELIEVE......LOL

[Guest]

Fish do not feel pain in thier mouth such as hooks or pliers.

A fishes mouth is conditioned to the spines of fish that often poke the insides of thier mouth. Because of this fish do not feel the pain of hooks and other things peta is usually complaing about.

[Guest]

Fish feel pain, just about as much as Bill did.

[Granny]

If fish don't feel pain then why do Bullheads have needle like bones in their fins? Isn't this thier protection from other preditors?

[Guest]

Pain is transmitted by specific neural pathways and receptors for pain may be activated by mechanical, thermal, or chemical stimuli. Fish possess these types of receptors in there skin. In humans, pain is sent to higher brain centers (prefrontal cortex) where it is perceived and the perception is associated with a powerful emotional experience. Fish, however ,do not posses these well developed higher brain centers and thus they probably perceive a painful stimulus and react to it almost as a reflex. After the initial perception, they would not be bothered by the stimulus, similar to what occurs in humans who have had surgery to central brain regions to treat chronic pain.

[Guest]

Just because fish don't feel pain, that does not mean they want to be eaten. Some fish do have defence mechanisms, but that is not related to pain, just survival.

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Adam Johnson
www.adamjohnsonfishing.com

[Duffman]

I think it's not to inflict pain but to prevent being swallowed so easily. I watched a crappie in my tank hold a minnow in it's mouth sideways for over ten minutes and then spit it out to get it head first, only to see the minnow make the getaway.

[Guest]

Fish do have sensory nerves that can still feel things such as spiny fins, rocks they brush against, etc. It's not like all fish are numb all the time. The question is whether or not fish feel pain, pleasure, excitement, fear, emotions rather than stimuli.

That is the part of the brain that has been found to be lacking in fish, so fish cannot feel pain just like they can't feel any other human emotion.

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Adam Johnson
www.adamjohnsonfishing.com

[Granny]

So relating to my previous question, if the bullhead fins are touched, do fish "feel" the same sting that humans do? If they don't feel the sting, what purpose do the fins serve?