can fish feel pain?

Fish are intelligant, my fish no the time of day when they are going to be fed, always at the surface, and recognise the colour of the food pot, cause as soon as they see it they swim frantically. And when a new fish is introduced into the pond they greet it.
 
Yorda said:
Why limit consciousness to brains and nerves? I see no reason to assume that even atoms could not feel something.
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Somewhere else in the universe, sure! But here on earth, with what this planet's biochemistry and evolutionary processes have to work with? How?
Atoms are in motion, like microorganisms, so what causes that motion? If consciousness causes animals and humans to move, why couldn't consciousness also cause insects, microorganisms and even atoms to move? What difference is there between consciousness and natural laws?
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Consciousness is not the cause of all animal movement. Your autonomic nervous system causes your own body to breathe when you forget to think about it. You have a vestigial reflex center in your knee that causes your leg to jump when your doctor hits it with a hammer. Birds have much more highly developed reflex centers that help them fly; that's why headless chicken bodies--which by definition have no consciousness--try to escape by taking flight.

I've been corrected on the issue of consciousness in insects, but I'll stand by my thesis in general and (after checking this time :)) say that sponges and corals do not have anything remotely resembling a brain in functionality. It's quite easy for animal motion to be generated by reflex.

As for atoms, well I'm a little better educated in physics than in zoology. Atoms move in compliance with the laws of the universe--the "natural laws" you refer to. Ultimately they're reacting to the forces of gravity and electromagnetism, although at a macro level for our own convenience of study we organize those forces into patterns and give them names like friction, pressure, buoyancy, etc. I suppose you could call this an analog of a reflex: the universe is "programmed" to work that way so the atoms simply follow some fairly simple rules. There is no need to postulate a consciousness unless you want to get metaphysical and speculate about the "programming."
 
Enmos said:
That's humans for ya.. they probably don't even start to think about what the animals might feel.
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I don't care if they do it right and kill it instantly, But if they didn't even know what they are chopping off, its just horrible!
 
My koi are fish, not pets. Of course I do put a leash on them and take them for a walk around the neighborhood whenever we have heavy rain. It's fun watching them flop from puddle to puddle.
 
if i stick a battery to my tongue i feel a sensation isnt painful but, nevertheless, like pain i would still try to avoid it. if that was the only sort of 'pain' that an organism felt then would we say it felt pain or not?
 
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Fraggle Rocker said:
So what's the big deal about vertebrates and cartilaginous fish being unique because we have a central nervous system? Do other phyla have it too?
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all bilateral symmetric animals have it per definition unless they lose it due to developmental reprogramming.

It's only a matter of degree.

Like with everything in biology.
 
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