Do lobsters feel pain?

[Colossus]

If you knew for a fact that lobsters experience pain, and did suffer through the boiling process, would you still eat them?

I'd eat more of them, and I'd boil them slower. Then I'd put the videos on youtube to distress these communist vegetarian types.

This is probably the funniest post I've read since joining CC....cheers DM!

As for the feeling pain thing, it's as Bertros said earlier in this thread.... pain is scientifically defined as a sensation that is carried back to the central nerve processing system (brain in us, something else in lobsters). Lobster neuronal structure is such that threatening stimuli is apparently transmitted directly to the muscles and not to the 'brain'. We do this too, as a matter of fact. Ever burn yourself and pull your hand back before you actually feel the pain? That's where the difference lies...pain registering vs. reflex. I wonder if lobsters (or other supposedly non-pain-feeling organisms) are capable of learning from threats/dangers. All mammals exhibit behavioral modification as a result of pain, so if such behavioral modification is seen in earlier organisms, I suppose that could argue for them feeling pain.

[Beastly]

I only tried Lobster a couple times, and that is because I didn't like the gritty texture. I was wondering, if it was cooked wrong, or does all lobster have that texture..

I love CRABS...

are crabs boiled?

Are they also a crustacean? Do they scream?

do they feel pain?

[EvilPurpleMonkey]

I only tried Lobster a couple times, and that is because I didn't like the gritty texture. I was wondering, if it was cooked wrong, or does all lobster have that texture..

I love CRABS...

are crabs boiled?

Are they also a crustacean? Do they scream?

do they feel pain?

I've never tried lobster, me too, yes, yes, sort of, no.

[Bertros Bertros]

All crustaceans are boiled, they all taste great! You don't need a cruststan (indeed very sleazy) just pop em in the freezer for 10 minutes before you cook em and they go to sleep....

My mum once cooked a crab for us when we were really little and she'd never done it before. She put the poor thing in cold water and stuck it on the stove, bout 10 minutes later it freaked out and climbed out the pan. My dad was chasing it round the boat and eventually it ended up back in the pot with a kedge anchour on the lid... I'm guessing thats not a very nice way to cook a lobster so use boiling water hey folks... But that was all long before I became properly acquainted with crustaceans....

An interesting aside is do prawns feel pain? In reality lobsters are just big prawns, they are no more advanced for being bigger and having claws...

I've seen so many crabs chop off their own leg blissfully unaware that they were doing so, just crush the claw because there was something in it and thats what they do I am certain there is no feedback mechanism, just rudimentary muscle reflex.

[heavycola]

Just for the protocol: I'm not a vegetarian. The reason I don't eat lobsters is because they look like cockroaches that evolved in the sea.

BTW Wrong class. Cockroaches are insects. Lobsters are Arachnids.

Even worse! Spiders that evolved under the sea.. Yuck!!

No I fucked up. They're crustaceans. I could've sworn they were arachnids...

Anyways, they evolved long before spiders.

They are all arthropods tho i think

[mibi]

I can't imagine an animal would have survived for millions of years like a lobster if it didn't feel pain.

[Iz Man]

In reality lobsters are just big prawns, they are no more advanced for being bigger and having claws...

Or are prawns small lobsters?

[Iz Man]

I can't imagine an animal would have survived for millions of years like a lobster if it didn't feel pain.

Well you must not have much of an imagination.......
There is a difference between feeling pain, and the body reacting to negative or harmful stimuli. It feels no pain just like it feels no pain when some sea predator is chomping it up bit by bit. It does not feel pain, but it "knows" it must try to get away.

1. Lobsters don't feel pain. Their bodies react to negative stimuli.
2. Lobsters are primitive, very dumb creatures.
3. Lobsters don't scream, they have no lungs (thanks Backglass), it is steam escaping from the shell.
4. You can steam Lobsters as well as boil them.
5. Lobsters may be big Prawns, but Prawns may also be small Lobsters, scientists are still trying to figure this one out.
6. Lobsters are delicious, especially steamed tail smothered in herbs & butter.