Jan 3, 2025 07:59 PM
https://www.livescience.com/animals/crus...-feel-pain
EXCERPTS: Crabs are often boiled alive prior to being eaten. The logic has been that crabs do not feel pain because they lack the brain regions responsible for processing pain. But is that the case — or can crabs feel pain?
Shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) may be able to, according to an October study in the journal Biology. Researchers found these crabs have nociceptors, nerve endings that detect damage to the body and send a pain signal to the brain.
[...] The existence of nociceptors alone does not necessarily mean an animal feels pain, said study co-author Eleftherios Kasiouras, a biologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Nociceptors can trigger a pain reflex — like the instinctual removal of a hand from a hot stove. But humans experience the feeling of pain in our brain. So while nociceptors alone don't prove crabs feel pain, they're one piece of the puzzle.
[...] Given the evidence, scientists working in this field are calling for bans on boiling crabs and lobsters alive, calling it an inhumane practice. A ban has been discussed and tabled in the U.K., but bans are already in place in Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand.
Scientists are also looking at whether squids, clams and mussels meet the criteria for feeling pain, but results are varied: They do have nociceptors, and some show pain avoidance behavior, but scientists don't yet understand their brains as well as those of mammals... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Crabs are often boiled alive prior to being eaten. The logic has been that crabs do not feel pain because they lack the brain regions responsible for processing pain. But is that the case — or can crabs feel pain?
Shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) may be able to, according to an October study in the journal Biology. Researchers found these crabs have nociceptors, nerve endings that detect damage to the body and send a pain signal to the brain.
[...] The existence of nociceptors alone does not necessarily mean an animal feels pain, said study co-author Eleftherios Kasiouras, a biologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Nociceptors can trigger a pain reflex — like the instinctual removal of a hand from a hot stove. But humans experience the feeling of pain in our brain. So while nociceptors alone don't prove crabs feel pain, they're one piece of the puzzle.
[...] Given the evidence, scientists working in this field are calling for bans on boiling crabs and lobsters alive, calling it an inhumane practice. A ban has been discussed and tabled in the U.K., but bans are already in place in Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand.
Scientists are also looking at whether squids, clams and mussels meet the criteria for feeling pain, but results are varied: They do have nociceptors, and some show pain avoidance behavior, but scientists don't yet understand their brains as well as those of mammals... (MORE - missing details)