RE: Fish pain

[Billinet at aol_com]

In line with what Scott said, "pain" has a large psychological component, and the lower animals don't have as much "psychological" as do the higher ones.  They don't experience what we call "pain" in the the way we do.

Case in point:  When I was little, one day I was fishing for sunfish with a worm and a bobber.  One fish lost its right eye in the process of being unhooked.  I returned him to the water, and in 10 minutes I caught him again, or an identical one-eyed fish.  If he was in "pain" I doubt that he would have been eating.

And another:  Years later I was fishing for trout in a meadow stream.  I was using worms for bait on a gold-plated hook that a Pfleuger salesman had given me.  I had a strong bite and hooked a fish briefly, but the leader (the thin line to which the hook is attached) broke.  I attached another hook and worm, cast in, and caught the same fish, with the gold-plated hood deep within his gullet.  He was injured from that wound but he was still feeding.

And then there is the male praying mantis . . . 

Bill