Do lobsters feel pain when immersed in boiling water?

[tikeyas_mom]

ok i was reading up on blue lobsters and i came across this article... what are your thoughts...


Do lobsters feel pain when immersed in boiling water?

A. Pain is a human concept. Human beings and other vertebrates possessing an advanced nervous system feel pain. Lobsters are invertebrates with a very primitive nervous system similar to that of a grasshopper. A lobster's nervous system is lower on the evolutionary scale than that of fish, and is designed to respond to very basic stimuli contained within their habitat. Scientific research conducted at the Maine Department of Marine Resources in the United States shows that lobsters, like most other marine invertebrates, cannot survive heat exposure and can die at temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius, which feels lukewarm to human touch.

[Sirrahsim]

I don't think that lobsters can feel pain

[IRescue452]

I don't see scientific evidence of why they can't feel pain but it doesn't mean they don't taste good, people are humanly ethnocentric.

[LKPike]

I always thought it was kinda mean to cook them alive, but I never knew that they couldn't feel it so, lets heat up some water

[IRescue452]

"As an invertebrate zoologist who has studied crustaceans for a number of years, I can tell you the lobster has a rather sophisticated nervous system that, among other things, allows it to sense actions that will cause it harm. … [Lobsters] can, I am sure, sense pain.”
—Jaren G. Horsley, Ph.D.

Contrary to claims made by seafood sellers, there is little doubt anymore that lobsters, like all animals, can feel pain. Most scientists agree that a lobster’s nervous system is quite sophisticated. For example, neurobiologist Tom Abrams says lobsters have “a full array of senses.” Jelle Atema, a marine biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and one of the country’s leading experts on lobsters, says, “I personally believe they do feel pain.”

Lobsters may even feel more pain than we would in similar situations. One popular food magazine recently suggested cutting live lobsters in half before tossing them on the grill (a recipe that’s “not for the squeamish,” the magazine warned), and more than one chef has been known to slice and dice lobsters before cooking them. But, says invertebrate zoologist Jaren G. Horsley, “The lobster does not have an autonomic nervous system that puts it into a state of shock when it is harmed. It probably feels itself being cut. ... I think the lobster is in a great deal of pain from being cut open ... [and] feels all the pain until its nervous system is destroyed” during cooking.

Don’t heat up the water just yet, though. Anyone who has ever boiled a lobster alive can attest to the fact that when dropped into scalding water, lobsters whip their bodies wildly and scrape the sides of the pot in a desperate attempt to escape. In the journal Science, researcher Gordon Gunter described this method of killing lobsters as “unnecessary torture.”

I'm more inclined to believe this since lobsters do have nerve connections. I still eat lobster as I would cows and chickens and pigs that were all once reported to feel absolutely no pain (still reported occasionally). Does this mean Terry Schiavo felt no pain since her brain was mush? Sorry but some of you seem to be hypocritical here.

[ParNone]

This is a True Story. One of my friends decided to have Baked Lobster. She popped him in the oven at 350 degrees. Within about 5 mins, she heard this tap...tap...tapping on the oven door. "Hey... Hey! Anybody out there? Woo, it's getting awfully hot in here."

What she was thinking to BAKE a lobster alive I do not know. She's a wee bit flakey. But it ended up saving his life. She couldn't cook and eat anything that was trying to communicate to her that he needed assistance out of a bad situation.

So I personally think they do feel pain.

Par...

[wolfsoul]

I've never understood why people can't just kill the lobster before cooking it. I don't see why it's nessecary to cook it alive. Why would anyone want to sit there through that is beyond me. I remember my dad telling me what happens when he cooks lobsters. He said that lobsters actually scream. He says they scream REALLY loud. It's sounds horrific.

[Orca]

I think they can feel pain, and I never liked the idea of sticking a live one in boiling water. I feel bad for them

[Lady's Human]

The "Scream" is steam coming from the pores in their shells. They can't scream, they have no vochal instrument at all.

[wolfsoul]

Originally posted by Lady's Human
The "Scream" is steam coming from the pores in their shells. They can't scream, they have no vochal instrument at all.

Ahh, that's good to know. I've never heard a lobster being cooked before, but the way my dad described it it just sounded horrific. Glad to know it isn't actually screaming.

[micki76]

I think any living creature is capapble of feeling pain. Pain is a response to something that isn't good. Why wouldn't a lobster feel pain?

I have to agree with Jordan in that I've never understood why they must be boiled alive??? Of course, no death is a good death, but I still eat poultry, beef, & fish.

[Lady's Human]

Ever try killing a lobster? There's a reason those crustaceans have been around for millions of years. They have a brain about the size of the head of a pin surrounded by shell. They're very tough to kill, boiling them nosefirst (which kill the brain) is about the easiest way to do it.

[wolfsoul]

Can't you just chop the head off?

[Lady's Human]

Not really, because the head is encased in the main shell.

[janelle]

I heard that they give off a toxin when in trouble so the best way to cook them is fast into the boiling water head first. Quick and easy. No toxins.

Of course the Gourmet Chef said to put them into lukewarm water to drift off the sleep and then they die peacefully. I just wonder about the toxins when done like that.