Fish have feelings too

There is as much evidence that fish can suffer as there is that chickens can suffer. So says behavioural biologist Victoria Braithwaite of Edinburgh University, who has been studying the capacity of fish to feel pain. She notes that fish have nociceptors, specialised nerve endings that alert animals to pain. When noxious stimulants are injected into fish they exhibit behaviour indicative of pain. After receiving painkillers, they begin acting normally again. She also explains that fish share similarities to us in regard to the parts of our brain structures associated with emotion, learning and memory. Fish are “remarkably clever,” Braithwaite says, pointing out that they can learn geometrical relationships and landmarks which they can then use to generate a mental map of escape routes to evade predators. She asserts that, in absence of evidence to the contrary, we should assume that fish do indeed suffer.


From: Farmed Animal Watch: n.37, v.6