Reply #25: "fish do not have feelings"--How do you know?

[AlienGirl]

What, exactly, do you mean by "feelings"? Do you mean emotions? They have all of the chemical and electrical apparatus necessary to feel, at the very least, pleasure and fear. Do you mean sensation? They have all of the chemical and electrical apparatus necessary to feel, at the very least, physical pleasure at touching something, and pain. Moreover, when they are in pain, their brains produce endorphins, just as other chordates' brains do. Not only that, if an irritant is injected into their lips, they will subsequently slow down their eating behavior--"pain-guarding" is the technical term for it, reluctance to use a body part that hurts.

Not only that, but fish are increasingly being seen to have relatively sophisticated social roles. If you take a goldfish from a small school and get him drunk on some alcohol in water then put him back with his school-mates, the other fish will swim next to him and prop him up until he becomes sober enough to swim correctly.

As a personal note, I had several fish who enjoyed being touched. One, a small rock bass, would swim into my hand when I put it in his aquarium and solicit "scritches" much as a cat might. I have also seen stingrays playing, puppy-like.

Whether you want to consider the emotions and sensations of fish ethically relevant is up to you, but recognize what is *there* before you decide to discount it entirely.

Tucker