RE: Fish can't feel pain ?

["Heather Hasty" <hhasty79 at bellsouth_net>]

>   "fish cannot feel pain. The largest study of
piscine neurology,
>   comparing
> the nervous systems and responses of fish and 
mammals, has found that
> their brains are not sufficiently developed to
allow them to sense
> pain or fear.....  The study concluded that
awareness of pain depends
> on functions of specific region of the cerebral
cortex that fish do no
> possess. "

>This guy must of got his Professorship in a lucky 
>packet (or he has been misquoted).

Sounds as bad as the radical behaviorists ;-).  I'm not sure why a
piscine brain should be at all like a mammalian one in terms of what
areas process what stimuli, and anyone who's seen a betta show fear
stripes, or an oscar smack itself into a tank wall because it was
startled, or a fish in a toxic situation go so far as to fling itself
out of the tank...

They might not experience pain or fear as we experience it. I think it'd
be interesting to find that professor's definition of pain/fear.  Pain
is in my mind the signal resulting from thousands of tiny nerves firing
at once saying "DAMAGE!"  Your reaction to damage can be processed
without ever traveling to the brain...nerve->spinal cord->back to
muscles to react. Perhaps in a fish this is all that happens. Is it
still pain if it never gets to the brain?  We don't know that. And won't
until we find a way to speak Fish...maybe we need to radiate some oscars
and give them super powers of speech ;-). What's fear? The recognition
of danger and resulting physiological condition conducive to getting out
of danger, I suppose.  Do fish recognize dangerous situations?  Ok, try
this. Stick your hand in the tank and try to grab a fish. Do they all go
pale, hide, dart, dive into gravel?  Is this not fear?  Fear causes
stress -- are they not stressed, now that you've stopped and they are
gasping and nervously darting from plant to plant?  

Silly scientist.  Good try, no cookies for you.

-h

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