Prawns and lobsters 'do feel pain'

It may cause disquiet in the kitchen, but scientists say they have convincing evidence that prawns and lobsters feel pain.

Researchers conducted a study in which they dabbed irritant acetic acid on to the antennae of 144 prawns.

The creatures reacted by grooming and rubbing the affected area for up to five minutes. This focused response is similar to that seen in mammals exposed to a noxious stimulant.

It flies in the face of the popular notion that only vertebrates feel pain, according to Professor Robert Elwood, who led the research at Queen's University, Belfast.

He told New Scientist magazine: "The prolonged, specifically directed rubbing and grooming is consistent with an interpretation of pain experience."

Prof Elwood, an expert in animal behaviour, believes it makes sense for even lowly crustaceans to feel pain. Sensing pain allows an animal to learn from potentially damaging experiences, modify its behaviour, and increase its chances of survival, he says.

However he is at odds with other scientists who point to the primitive nervous systems of invertebrates.

Dr Lynne Sneddon, from the University of Liverpool, said: "Shrimps do not have a recognisable brain ... you could argue the shrimp is simply trying to clean the antenna rather than showing a pain response."

Dr Richard Chapman, from the University of Utah's Pain Research Centre in Salt Lake City, US, stressed that most animals possessed receptors that responded to irritants.

Prof Elwood insists such arguments are flawed. "Using the same analogy, one could argue crabs do not have vision because they lack the visual centres of humans," he said.

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