this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025

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Fish Suffer Up to 22 Minutes of Intense Pain When Taken Out of Water (www.sciencealert.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

This is why you just shoot them in the head with a harpoon when you take them out of the water

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[+] [email protected] -15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Nice fluff piece, but it's still complete speculation as to how fish "feel" when out of water or anything else. Currently, science can't tell if a fish can hurt in the same sense that humans can.

If they come up with something dirt cheap to kill them faster, I'm all for it. No down side to give a fish the benefit of the doubt. This isn't something I'm going to worry about, though.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Broadly scientific consensus is that at least bony fish likely experience pain in all of the same quantifiable ways that humans do. They exhibit avoidance learning, they have a central nervous system, nociceptors, opiod receptors, exhibit reduced avoidance responses to noxious stimuli when given analgesics.. Etc.

The few scientists that have argued over the years that fish likely do not or cannot experience pain have been in the minority in the last 50 years, and each passing year finds decreased evidence for their claims. Dismissing it all as 'complete speculation' is.. Very inaccurate.

Worth reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_fish

Also - there already is "something dirt cheap to kill them faster" - hardwood fish bat. Lasts forever and instantly stuns, and with a couple of strong well-aimed blows will definitely kill.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm sorry but that's idiotic

The hell you mean? Of course it senses hurt. Why do you think humans are special cause we say ow?

What the fuck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe they are kinky. Idk.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (7 children)

I remember there was a study done on how to best slaughter swine (pigs).

The methods that were investigated included: a mechanical hit on the head, suffocation in CO2, and some other measures.

What was found was not only that the suffocation method caused significant stress in the animals, but also that the meat collected this way tasted way worse than meat collected through other slaughtering methods.

this could be relevant in this case: if fish suffocate slowly to death, meat producers might have a financial incentive to change that, to be able to sell better-quality meat, possibly at a higher price. anyways, it would make for good advertisement. that is why meat-producers (fish-producers) should take this seriously.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I have a crazy idea here. Now hear me out, this is gonna sound like a wackadoodle idea, but,...... how about we don't murder the animals? Crazy, I know.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

But I’m hungry

[+] [email protected] -23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (17 children)

eat non-cruel food. actual food. not animals. animals aren't food for humans.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (13 children)

All food is cruel. You can, at most, minimize the cruelty.

But you should know that millions of insects are killed in agriculture. Insects are indeed animals.

You can, if you want, minimize the amount of animals your presence in this world brings to an early death. But you cannot reduce it to zero no even near zero. Probably hundreds of small animals (most insects but surely many other small animals) die each day because things you do.

The line on how much do you want to minimize might be on one place for you, and that's ok. But you have to respect other people lines as well.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Yes they are. They have been for eons. It's not all they are and people should work towards meatless options and ethical meat like lab grown. But animals are definitely a food source.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't want to cause plants pain, that's why I eat meat

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Human beings are omnivores and nature doesn't moralize.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I grew up on a farm and enjoy eating meat

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you tried some good alternatives to meat? Like, try seitan* crumbles in a taco. With all the spices and other toppings it's really hard to tell the difference. Also, I find it almost impossible to tell an Impossible Whopper with Cheese from a regular Whopper with Cheese, after all the glop they put on it. I know those are both bottom-of-the-barrel meat choices, but maybe branch out and try a thing or two. If you don't like it - no biggie.

I've tried casually dipping my toes into the vegetarian pool with just occasional meat substitutions. Occasionally I find something that's "No way" but more often than not, I find something that is also really tasty. It's not meat, but it's also tasty in a different way, so I don't miss meat as much. I've found vegetarian dishes I actually like. My biggest problem however is getting enough protein in my diet when I start eating mostly veggies.

[* Seitan only if you can handle gluten. Because, it's like 100% gluten! ]

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Meat alternatives are a nice thought. I'm glad they exist for people who can accept them in place of meat. I haven't found them to be very good substitutes yet so I'm not there. I've had the impossible whopper, and while it's good, it's not a replacement for me. Hopefully more options come over the years. I'm hopeful for lab grown meat personally since it'd still be meat, just ethically produced.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

And the reason we still use CO2 slaughter instead of something like Nitrogen is because.... They already have machines built for CO2 and just don't want to pay the cost of changing practices.

Pure greed and laziness.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

They just know people will buy the meat no matter how much the animals were abused so why would they bother? Even those who see themselves as animal lovers happily look the other way with every purchase. The industry has all the incentives to be exceptionally cruel so of course it is.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Also co2 is easier because you can fill a pit with it, nitrogen will just float about and disperse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s just heavier??

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Stress is a hell of a drug

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

So what you're saying is that Kurt Cobain was wrong and it's actually not OK to eat fish because they do, in fact, have feelings?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Something in the way…

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