People say that when you go fishing and catch a fish, it doesn't hurt them (the fish). Is that true? I don't see how hooking them in the mouth can't hurt. I love to fish, but won't do it anymore because I think it will hurt them! ++++++++++++++++ confused 07-13-02, 05:46 PM koicarp I am a keen angler, I normally go specimin hunting for carp. I have found that a Barbed hook can cause damage therefore a certain amount of pain must be experienced.Where as a Barbless hook I do not believe causes damage or pain. The carp has a fairly tough mouth due to the way they feed, For Instance one of thier favorite foods Is swan mussel they will throw thier body weight useing thier mouths to crush the shell,They will dig Into gravel to get food also,This toughens the lips, I also think that there Is a certain amount of stress associated with the fishing process,But no worse than they would experience In thier natural conditions. I should point out that on many occassions It has been the angler that has come to the rescue of many a distressed fish. In particular when I have caught fish with damage they are often Infected,I always carry an antiseptic treatment for fish and know that It works when the fish has been caught again the Injury has totally gone untreated fish have died. These are just my views,They may not follow your views..
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07-13-02, 06:59 PM neoskullstomper It must not hurt the fish too much or the animal activists would have tried to stop it like they have to hunting and traping.
07-14-02, 12:13 AM Bibc14 this may be a little off subject, but i know that goldfish have only a 5 second memory, so even if you hurt them, 5 seconds later they would not remember it, i wonder if the memory of a bigger fish is similar?
07-15-02, 08:28 AM puppyblues Neoskullstomper, I'm not even going to go there with you. (hunting & trapping) I could debate that till the day I die. I do know that the 'animal activists' such as PETA go out on lakes and splash around fishermen to scare the fish away. As a member of PETA, I wouldn't do this sort of thing, I think it's going too far, my question was, does it hurt a fish when a hook is caught in it's mouth.
07-15-02, 11:29 AM koicarp I have already attempted to answer this question. Fish with soft mouths ie pet fish like Koicarp,goldfish most likely would, as they feed on pellet or flake foods. So thier mouths never toughen up. Other fish I would suspect they dont,unless a barbed hook Is used, this will tear and rip through flesh much the same as It would If you got a hook In your finger. Barbless hooks are a different thing altogether as they enter flesh much like a fine hyperdermic and as there Is no barb they can be removed the same way they entered the flesh. As Fish in nature eat different foods and as they dont have hands they will mouth and crush the food, Therefore they have tougher mouths and do not feel pain.
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07-16-02, 08:56 AM Bibc14 "According to Dutch researcher John Verheijen and his co-workers, the pain resulting from injury by the hook contributes less to the fish's suffering than fear"
07-10-06, 05:52 PM Sublimeveg Yes fish feel pain. They have as many pain receptors in their lips as we do in our fingers. It is an old wives tail that they do not. Check it out and if you still don't believe it then check their sources to see the exact studies. http://www.fishinghurts.com/FishFeelPain.asp
07-10-06, 06:23 PM Sailracer Thanks for your comments, and welcome to Answerpool!
07-10-06, 07:15 PM Kendor Do fish feel pain? ? Of course. All creatures must respond physiologically to events that affect them. But should we care? Heck no. They are mid-stream in the food chain and they are an important food source for both man and beast. They have no emotion whatsoever, so to them pain is only a signal to try and change the situation. They don't understand death, or life for that matter. They merely possess a will to survive.
Although she wouldn't agree with me, I wish puppy were around to see her 4 year old post resurrected.
07-10-06, 07:32 PM Professor "It is an old wives tail that they do not." You mean alewives' tale? Big Grin
You may be right, Sublimeveg, but the article you posted is published by PETA, and should therefore be suspect of pushing its political agenda ahead of the science.
A more balanced view is given in Do Fish Feel Pain? from Universisty of Edinburgh, which makes a distinction between nociception (the perception of painful stimuli) and the unpleasant psychological experience of higher vertebrates, which is much more speculative for fish. Their conclusion states
quote: ...our current body of knowledge about the neuro-physiology of fish is inadequate for either argument to be entirely convincing. Therefore it is particularly relevant in this case to remember that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" (Sherwin, 2001). We must remain open-minded and recognize that our ability to answer the question "do fish feel pain?" with confidence is limited by the constraints of our own perception.
Another article appears in New Scientist of experimental work published in 2003. Again, there is differing opinions by neurobiologists on the question of pain in the sense that we humans know it. For instance, it states that
quote: ...James Rose, an expert in fish neurobiology at the University of Wyoming in Laramie disagrees: "It has nothing to do with pain - the fish brain just hasn't got the hardware to experience pain."
He points out, for example, that even people in a persistent vegetative state are able to make complex responses to painful stimuli. They can cry out or screw up their faces without ever being conscious of their surroundings.
My point here is that the research may be suggestive that "fish feel pain" but is by no means conclusive, and that -- notwithstanding PETA's insistence -- a healthy dose of skepticism is advised.
07-11-06, 05:30 PM FredPuli
quote: Originally posted by Professor: "It is an old wives tail that they do not." You mean alewives' tale? Big Grin
What's the point here Professor ? I get the joke about fish tail and a tale told but what's an ale-wife to do with it? The current, and old, English saying is "an old wives' tale" that is something believed and told by old wives and mothers to their children and anyone else who respects their age and experience and so given currency over generations though it be false.Now we have urban myths ! (Or is there, perhaps, a fish called something like ale-wife just as we have fish with odd names e.g John Dory and miller's thumb ? Confused )
07-11-06, 07:12 PM Professor From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary Online:
Main Entry: 2alewife Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural ale·wives /-"wIvz/ Etymology: perhaps alteration of obsolete allowes, a kind of shad, from French alose shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa : a food fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of the herring family that is very abundant along the Atlantic coast; also : any of several related fishes (as the menhaden)
------------ I once went to a beach on south Lake Michigan where, for reasons unknown to me, countless dead alewives were floating about and washing up on shore. Eek However it didn't stop me and my friends from going for a swim.
I know it was not a particularly inspired pun, but the confusion of tail/tale was not intended -- I was just quoting a previous post.
11-24-06, 11:44 AM dodgecity does the fish say OOWWWHHHH if it does then it hurts if it dont well then
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