It's about to get a lot more difficult for some of us to scald lobsters to death in a boiling vat of liquid doom. A study from Queen's University Belfast indicates that invertebrates like crabs, shrimp and squid are capable of feeling pain, reports the Washington Post. Next we'll find out cauliflower is capable of love.
Scientist Robert Elwood studied a variety of crustaceans, including shrimp and crabs, trying to determine if their response to certain stimuli was either reflex or pain. Across the board he discovered that when subjected to something inherently "painful"—losing a limb or being brushed with acid—the animals responded with movements and actions specifically related to where they were touched.
If he applied a brief electric shock to one part of a hermit crab, it would rub at that spot for extended periods with its claws. Brown crabs rubbed and picked at their wound when a claw was removed, as it is in fisheries. At times the prawns and crabs would contort their limbs into awkward positions to reach the injury.
Elwood also studied cephalopods like squids and octopuses, noticing similar reactions; in squids, however, pain from one area could radiate all over the animal's body. It's hard out there for a squid.
He's convinced these findings prove that these animals are capable of feeling similar sensations as their vertebrate counterparts. "These are not just reflexes," Elwood clarified. "This is prolonged and complicated behavior, which clearly involves the central nervous system."
His discovery has prompted Elwood—and other researchers—to limit the use of invertebrates in their labs; there's also hope that more legal protections can be applied to these animals. “As long as the common opinion is that invertebrates do not suffer, they are out of the game," explains animal law and ethics consultant Antoine Goetschel. Something to consider when you're boiling your dinner alive.
[via Gawker]
