Remove the octopus, allow to cool, and slice as you wish. But the octopus, which you've been chopping to pieces, is feeling pain every time you do it. Can Lobster Feel The Pain Of Being Boiled Alive? But research has not yet confirmed their presence. What do you think an octopus is experiencing when it's being cut into pieces and eaten alive? So even if they doo feel pain, it’s pretty quick compared to being ripped apart or swallowd whole as would happen to them in nature. (For the record, animals in the studies were anesthetized and euthanized, respectively.) In Seoul, South Korea, there are entire restaurants centered around dining on octopuses whose arms continue to squirm when they're placed on your plate—and as they wriggle down your throat. And the issue is not just philo-scientific cloud (or wave) gazing. What's going on physically when their arms continue to move after they've been cut off? In the written material that PETA has issued to accompany the video, octopus expert Jennifer Mather makes it clear, as well, that octopuses feel pain. There's everything to learn about them. There's a wonderful video from some guys in Australia—there are several that have done this actually—they need someplace to hide while they rest. She has studied octopuses and their close relatives since 1978, and has done extensive field research into the cephalopod mind. Step 2 – Braise Octopus. Of eating an octopus alive, Dr. Jennifer Mather, an expert on cephalopods and a psychology professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, says the following: “[T]he octopus, which you’ve been chopping to pieces, is feeling pain every time you do it. When they talk about pain, they mean pain in its most elemental, evolutionarily ancient sense – a feeling that might have some but not all of the aspects of pain in humans. Octopuses can feel pain, just like all animals. Yes, I do feel bad for them and have wished I could set them free. Plonk the frozen octopus into a large pot of cold water. Because of their relatively small size and the fact that they’re ectothermic, the boiling water would kill them in seconds. Yet when we consider the octopus, the … But whether “pain”–especially originating from an arm–is processed in the central brain remains to be determined. Without getting too far into the woods (or reefs) of animal treatment ethics, the question remains: How much pain and distress can these relatively short-lived invertebrates experience? And they are capable of learning, discrimination, spatial awareness and impressive memories. The designations of welfare, cruelty, and simple squeamishness are not always clear-cut—especially in issues surrounding the types of animals that we don't hold particularly near and dear. Of all people, Julia Child had instructions for cutting the brain of a lobster to kill it before you boil it. I suspect that they're just throwing an octopus on a chopping block and cutting off pieces as they go, and they are absolutely causing that animal suffering. Subscribers get more award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. But “responses might not be mediated by nociceptors (or could involve a variety of receptors) and hence might be a different kind of aversive sensation, when compared with pain experienced in humans,” the authors note. By Katherine Harmon Courage on September 18, 2013. For professional cooks, there is only one thing that’s more important above anything: the taste of the food. And finally, there is the crucial step our bodies take in communicating the information from sensation to perception. The Bon Appétit post says to rub the skin off with your fingers. And one of the things they looked at in terms of rules was, OK, we have to give consideration to vertebrates, but are there any invertebrates that we should give ethical consideration to? 2 hours ago — David J. Lewkowicz | Opinion, 4 hours ago — Amber Dance and Knowable Magazine, 5 hours ago — Sara Reardon and Dominic Smith. For example, researchers have observed an octopus’s color changing and activity patterns and looked for any self-inflicted harm (swimming into the side of a tank or eating its own arms) to judge whether the animal is “stressed.” And to tell whether an animal has “gone under” anesthesia, they often look for movements, lack of response, posture change or, at the most, measure heart rate and breathing. In particular, to feel pain in this basic sense, it is not necessary to be self -conscious – to be aware of oneself as being in pain. As the researchers note in their paper, we know very little about whether cephalopods recognize pain or experience suffering and distress in a similar way that we humans–or even we vertebrates–do. Luckily for us, a new paper deals with that very question. But they really don't have the central nervous system to be, so to speak, making decisions and suffering. The differences between octopus and squid show how diverse the experiences of the rest of the invertebrates might be, Crook says. In particular, to feel pain in this basic sense, it is not necessary to be self -conscious – to be aware of oneself as being in pain. They're wonderful animals. What about other types of sea creatures—the live langoustine, for example, that caused waves for Copenhagen's Noma? I have also seen octopuses unscrewing jar lids easily to get a small crab inside. Being boiled alive is a gruesome fate for any animal – but for centuries that's how we've cooked lobsters, convinced they did not feel pain. Do so by all means if you can be bothered, have the time, and are really wanting to impress. There's an interesting situation because the European Union, over the last few years, looked at all of their animal welfare rules. Your octopus is likely to have come to you via a fishmonger, and you probably don't have any large rocks to hand, so use a meat mallet to tenderise the flesh. Do Octopuses Feel Pain? And “there are strong ethical, legal and scientific obligations to avoid, recognize and alleviate any pain, suffering and distress caused to animals used in scientific procedures,” the researchers note. Rather than trying to reckon with apples and oranges (or spaniels and squids), I consulted cephalopod expert Jennifer Mather, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and author of numerous studies on octopus and cephalopod sentience, including "Cephalopod consciousness: Behavioral evidence" and "Ethics and invertebrates: a cephalopod perspective." The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Both of these could explain why an octopus arm might recoil at an unpleasant sensation without the animal having a “conscious” experience of it. It's probable that the octopus's reaction to pain is similar to a vertebrate. The past couple posts have described some pretty severe experiments on octopuses, including: showing how octopus arms … And as the authors of this review remind us, “care must be taken in drawing conclusions between cephalopod and vertebrate brains, as the last common ancestor of vertebrates and cephalopods existed over 500 million years ago.”. ... them some protection in case they do feel pain." Okay, we're gonna cook the octopus, and first we're gonna boil it. Octopuses can feel pain, just like all animals. [Video], how octopus arms can grow back after inflicted damage, how even severed octopus arms can react to stimuli, the special “Cephalopod Research” issue of September’s, Farewell from Octopus Chronicles—And an Ode To a Tool-Wielding Octopus [Video], Octopus Genome Remains Elusive—But Full of Promise. They use tools, and they'll think about what they want to do with something even before they do it. There's a fine line between tenderising the octopus and beating it to a pulp, so hit it a few times, then check to see whether the tentacles feel as though they've lost some of their tension. But, do octopuses experience would-be painful experiences the same way mice do? Though it doesn't haunt me as much as it did when I thought they screamed. But, for the sake of argument, let’s say they do feel pain exactly like humans do. This method can additionally be used as a simple first step to tenderize your octopus before finishing it in a pan or on the grill for additional flavor and texture. What about its amputated limbs? There Are Plenty of Octopuses In the Sea—Or Are There? You just stick it in the freezer. Octopuses’ central brains are organized in an unusually sophisticated way for an invertebrate, possessing distinct lobes. While pork can be boiled easily on a stove top, beef can’t, so I thought, this just might actually work for Octopus. © 2021 Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc. Support our award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. Quirks and Quarks 9:29 Do lobsters feel pain when we boil them alive? Cuttlefish apparently remember “distasteful” prey, suggesting the use of the central brain in relation to an unpleasant stimulus. I think it was the Hawaiians who used to bite down on the brain to kill it quickly. This article originally appeared on MUNCHIES in December 2014. The practice of eating live seafood, such as fish, crab, oysters, baby shrimp, or baby octopus, is widespread.Oysters are typically eaten live. Previous (as well as much current) research has looked largely to behavioral clues as an indication to an octopus’s internal state. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that it does. One of them dug up a coconut shell and hauled it around with it, and when it got to the point where it wanted to rest, it picked up the shell, tucked itself inside of it, and went to sleep. If they do have these key receptors, do they have the mental complexity to compute a deeper sense of displeasure? But we do not yet have evidence that they can process suffering as we do. They can anticipate a painful, difficult, stressful situation—they can … It's just as painful as if it were a hog, a fish, or a rabbit, if you chopped a rabbit's leg off piece by piece. To rephrase Thomas Nagel’s thought experiment, what is it like to be the wriggling bit of octopus on a chopstick?These questions are central to David Foster Wallace’s famous essay on eating lobster, in which he argued eloquently against the practice of boiling the bugs alive. But these are still relatively rough measures of a complex process. dining on octopuses whose arms continue to squirm. And indeed we care much about our meals, and that’s why we developed a lot of cooking methods to get the best taste possible from combining the ingredients. But there was a discussion I had with PETA about someone who was frying octopuses alive in New York, and I was asked to comment on that. There is a significant body of evidence that lobster, crab and crayfish (decapod crustaceans) and octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus (cephalopods) and can experience pain and … I've talked to other people about this—there is cultural sensitivity, and there is suffering.