No. The categorical claim that fish cannot feel pain is contradicted by scientific evidence. Research supports their capacity for pain, although this does not establish that their experiences are identical to human pain.
A controlled study in rainbow trout identified receptors that detect harmful stimuli and documented prolonged changes in behaviour and physiology, including delayed feeding. A broader scientific review prepared for the World Organisation for Animal Health concluded that fish are capable of experiencing pain, drawing on anatomical, behavioural and experimental evidence.
Nociception, the detection of potentially damaging stimuli, is not by itself proof of conscious pain. Scientists assess several kinds of evidence together. Some researchers dispute the interpretation, and evidence is uneven across species, but those limitations do not support a blanket denial of pain in fish.
Fish should not be regarded as incapable of pain simply because their responses differ from ours.
Lynne U. Sneddon, Victoria A. Braithwaite and Michael J. Gentle
The experiment identified nociceptors in rainbow trout and prolonged behavioural and physiological changes after noxious stimulation. This establishes more than an immediate withdrawal response, but does not alone prove subjective pain.
Based on: Penn State
World Organisation for Animal Health
The commissioned review concludes that accumulated experimental, anatomical and behavioural evidence supports pain in fish, while acknowledging dissent and differences in the evidence available across species.
Based on: World Organisation for Animal Health
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