Do fish feel pain?

No. Link

Another Detailed Study

Yes, all creatures do.

@ZEPHYRA…I agree, including plants.

It looks like more scientists would say fish likely do feel pain than say they don’t, and those same scientists would say that studies claiming they don’t rest their claims on logically shaky grounds.

Essay directly linked by above article

And another

From an evolutionary perspective, pain makes sense at a really basic level… simply having an “automatic” reflex to a situation might be enough to get a creature away in the moment. Having a negative experience would more likely keep the creature from returning to such a situation in the future. Doesn’t seem like that would take long to develop. It’s already been documented fish learn from their experiences (can have them learn that certain tasks get them food, etc.), so it does not seem like a leap at all to suggest they have negative sensory experiences to certain situations.

@Walgt…Thanks for your answer.

@elbanditoroso…Thank you.

Anything with a nervous system feels pain. If the hook doesn’t cause pain and kill the fish, I’m pretty sure suffocating to death flopping around on the ground or the deck of a boat is no picnic either. Poor fishies.

@Coloma…I agree…Thank you.

@Soubresaut – thank you for that interesting reading.

@BellaB :)

I hope not. But you’re right azlotto, they clearly react when working a stubborn hook out. I feel far worse though, for my live bait. I’ve tried ,and tried to get good with plastic bait. But I have FAR less success. I feel bad for the fish, I suppose. But I didn’t choose my place on the food chain. Sucks to be them…
They’re delicious.

I’ve had a hook in me a few times btw. It SUCKED…..

They’re vertebrates with a nervous system as sophisticated as our own. Of course they feel pain.

I hate conversations that steer me toward reflecting on the number of creatures I’ve devoured. But how can anyone be expected to resist bacon or a properly fried catfish?

Of course they do. They have a nervous system like all living creatures. Granted their nervous system is not the same as a mammal, but it is a nervous system none the less. There have been various studies performed on fish where they have expressed their pain sensations by flapping their gills faster and banging their heads on fish tanks.

Source

FYI, I’m not vegan or vegetarian. I’ve tried to be vegetarian myself for about three years. Yes its unfair to other creatures that they are not as powerful as humans. But there is a reasonable argument to be made for the nutritional value of meat as an accompaniment to vegetables and cereal.

Just recently I heard an interview on NPR with Jonathan Balcombe, the author of the book What a Fish Knows. According to Balcombe, not only do fish feel pain, but most of us greatly underestimate the intelligence of fish, which has significant implications not only for how we catch fish but for how we treat them in general.