It Appears Lobsters And Crabs Feel Pain After All

David Foster Wallace's famous essay "Consider The Lobster" explores unsettling questions about how much pain lobsters feel when we cook them. By law, that introductory sentence must be on this blog post, which is about new research into whether lobsters and crabs feel pain.

In the Washington Post today, Tamar Stelling has a nice overview of recent work by scientists trying to pin down actual evidence for whether or not invertebrates like crabs, lobsters, octopuses, and squid actually "feel pain," as we understand it. There are plenty of behaviorist philosophers willing to weigh in on this question without knowing a damn thing about neurons, but what the scientists have to say is more compelling:

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. "These are not just reflexes," Elwood says. "This is prolonged and complicated behavior, which clearly involves the central nervous system."
Octopuses and squid also show similar behavior, and possess the same kinds of nerves that detect certain pains in humans. Read all about it here.

It is really not so bad being a vegetarian.

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[sethreign]

Gotta love how effectively these types of videos will cause people to proudly self report that they're psychopaths.

[larryjoseph]

So now he knows they feel pain, but he is going to continue to eat them anyway, because he's not the one doing the actual cooking.

[michealangelo]

I've never watched something get boiled alive and thought, i wonder if that hurts. no shit sherlock

[jklein]

Who said they don't feel pain? Of course it feels pain. My guess is mommy or grammy told you they don't feel pain so you wouldn't cry while you boiled them alive. 

[MercurialRed]

If you don't care that these animals feel pain when being boiled alive then don't call other cultures barbaric for doing the same to cats and dogs. I would rather no animals were made to suffer for the pleasure of humans. If we must eat meat/animal produce, then be as humane about it as possible - that's the mark of a civilised society.

[BaronVonQuiply]

Why would anyone assume they don't in the first place?

[fluxreal]

To address why people think they don’t feel pain, it’s a wives tale made up bc they do feel pain and most people aren’t comfortable with being responsible for torturing animals before/while theyre killed and eaten. I’ve know people who even believed dogs don’t feel pain, they really thought they just pretend to be hurt to avoid being killed. It is really disturbing and alarming that person thought that but seriously that’s not where it ends. Ignorance isn’t uncommon but all it takes is a little questioning and education! Even I had to look this up to really confirm and think about it and this video in specific has been up for 6 years.

[MArtinezNINux]

what's the point of doing the video if there isn't really any change in the way we handle things,  

[kenshintadorker]

If any living being is alive, I'm sure they feel pain, no matter the circumstances. I'm sure if crabs could talk, they would say yes, they feel pain. There are ways to communicate, like dogs and humans, but we choose not to communicate with crabs, or is that an excuse to boil lobsters and crabs just to eat? I know what I said was true and maybe hurtful, but face it, the people who boil and eat these crabs alive used excuses just so they can eat them.

[rfdodson]

Love how red lobster sponsored this video

[secundine]

they have a central nervous system, of course they feel pain.

[osamabinswaggon]

Oh god the irony a red lobster ad came up right before the video.

[francovasquez]

These people are so insensitive to the pain of innocent animals that it surprises me how when another person shows them the same insensitivity towards their pain, they get up and say "injustice"! I'm gonna love working at wall street!

[CckBlckPro]

I swear to god I had the red lobster lobsterfest commercial

[ZachratesT]

1. Pain =/= suffering. Pain is merely a reaction to noxious stimuli. SUFFERING is the comprehension of that pain and enduring it. They do not suffer, they lack the neurological ability to do so.

2. They used electricity. Electricity will make muscles spasm, and there is latent effects (Even if there is no pain). The part they shocked may just be acting out of the ordinary. I've literally seen crabs go on train tracks on super hot days and they cook themselves to death on them. Were they stuck? No - they didn't even know.

In conclusion YES they feel pain, they have a nervous system and a brain. Does that mean they experience pain like us? Not even close. Our perception of pain is vastly different from theirs. They don't even have the capability for consciousness.

[ChollieD]

Unbelievable that people even ask "do they feel pain"? If you understand evolution, what are the chances that a species that has the power to get away from danger somehow lacks the usual neural inducements to get away from deadly temperatures? Would evolution favor the members of a species who hopped to it, and made getting out of danger a high priority?

Seems like "Yes they probably feel pain" should've been our default hypothesis since the 1900's. 

[o.t.]

The crab you kept showing even looked sad :(

[ichheieelsenorandorayashi]

They're only classified as "numb" so they can be boiled without animal lover reprocussions

[WobblesandBean]

You failed to mention the control group, in which application of anesthetic resulted in the exact same behavior.

When I was majoring in MariSci we were taught that crustaceans have opioids in their system, but no known opioid receptors, so...heck if I know. I think it's safe to say they know when a stimuli is presented, but I want to say that even though they know something's going on, they don't really know what that something is.

[darkseed]

I would think anything being killed would find the experience uncomfortable.