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Re: Dying Fish



Richard Hostler wrote:
>Freezing to death for a fish is asunpleasant as it would be for you are I.
<

Here's another fiercely debated topic :).  Actually, nobody knows for
certain what a fish feels or doesn't feel.  We can assume they feel the pain
resulting from physical injury since they do have nerve cells.  Temperature
induced suffering in a cold-blooded creature cannot be deduced by using
warm-blooded standards.  Our bodies must maintain a certain internal
temperature in any ambient temperature.  To do this, our bodies make us
shiver and shake, reduces blood flow to the epidermis, etc.  It also sends
signals to our brains to get our behinds somewhere warm, which we feel as
suffering.  Cold blooded animals may or may not suffer when their
surrounding temperature drops to unsafe levels.  IMHO, I would think not.
Remember the old story: If you drop a frog in boiling water, he will jump
out but if you put a frog in cool water and slowly raise the temperature to
boiling, he stays put and dies.  It's supposed to be a life philosophy
lesson or something, and I've never personally tried it :-).  I suspect the
life functions of the fish would gradually slow as the temperature drops,
until the fish dies.

Darren