鱼能感觉到疼痛吗?

鱼能感觉到疼痛吗?

As a species, we may moan about it louder, but we hardly have the exclusive rights to pain.

作为一个物种，我们可能会更大声地抱怨，但我们几乎没有疼痛的排他性权利。

One creature in this photo has the upper hand. (Photo: Irina Tarzian/Shutterstock)

We've certainly seen a dog nursing a wound. Or a deer calling out in distress. But many animals suffer in silence, and we're only too happy to refrain from asking them how they feel — lest it should ruin dinner.

我们确实看到过一只狗在护理伤口。或是一只鹿在痛苦中呼喊。但许多动物都默默地忍受着痛苦，我们很乐意克制自己不去问它们的感受，以免它们会毁了我们的晚餐。

Do we feel differently about our bug-smushing ways when we learn that a fruit fly can feel pain? Or how about a lobster, waiting for that boiling pot of water?

当我们知道果蝇能感觉到疼痛的时候，我们对臭虫叮咬的方式有不同的感觉吗?或者来一只龙虾，等着那锅滚烫的水?

The most silent sufferers in the animal world may be fish. We've been plucking them from the sea for thousands of years — and recently, with such wholesale efficiency that we may empty the oceans.

动物世界中最沉默的受害者可能是鱼。几千年来，我们一直在从海洋中收集它们——最近，我们以如此大规模的效率可能清空海洋。

Again, science is here to put our love for herring in a real pickle.

科学再一次让我们对鲱鱼的热爱陷入困境。

A new study from the University of Liverpool published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B has found that fish feel pain in a way that's "strikingly similar" to humans. In fact, like us, they hyperventilate and stop eating when they're hurting. They will even rub the part of their body that aches.

利物浦大学发表在《英国皇家学会哲学学报B》上的一项新研究发现，鱼感受到疼痛的方式与人类“惊人地相似”。事实上，就像我们一样，他们会在受伤时换气过度，停止进食。他们甚至会摩擦身体疼痛的部位。

For the study, Lynne Sneddon, from the university's Institute of Integrative Biology, reviewed the existing body of research — 98 studies in all — and concluded that they feel pain just as sharply as we do.

在这项研究中，来自大学综合生物学研究所的Lynne Sneddon回顾了现有的研究机构——总共98项研究——并得出结论，它们和我们一样会感到剧烈的疼痛。

"When subject to a potentially painful event, fishes show adverse changes in behaviour such as suspension of feeding and reduced activity, which are prevented when a pain-relieving drug is provided," Sneddon notes in a university release.

斯奈登在一份大学新闻稿中指出:“当受到潜在的痛苦事件影响时，鱼类会表现出行为上的负面变化，比如停止进食和活动减少，而当提供止痛药时，这些都是可以避免的。”

We don't know if goldfish feel the existential pain of spending their lives in a bowl, but they do feel pain. (Photo: MilousSK/Shutterstock)

To understand pain in other species, scientists look at nociceptors, specialized receptors that send signals to the spinal cord and brain when the body is being damaged. Humans have them throughout their skin, bones and muscles. Nociceptors have also been found in many other species, including sea slugs, mollusks and even those tiny fruit flies.

为了了解其他物种的疼痛，科学家们研究了痛觉感受器。痛觉感受器是一种特殊的受体，当身体受到损伤时，它会向脊髓和大脑发送信号。人类的皮肤、骨骼和肌肉中都有这种物质。在许多其他物种中也发现了痛觉感受器，包括海蛞蝓、软体动物，甚至那些微小的果蝇。

Fish have the same means to detect pain signals. But scientists have long pondered whether they have the equipment to receive them. In other words, can the single-layered forebrain of a fish process pain the same way that the much more complex mind of a primate does?

鱼也有同样的方法来检测疼痛信号。但科学家们长期以来一直在考虑，他们是否拥有接收它们的设备。换句话说，鱼的单层前脑处理疼痛的方式能和灵长类动物复杂得多的大脑处理疼痛的方式一样吗?

To find the answer, researchers have looked at how animals respond to potentially painful stimuli.

为了找到答案，研究人员观察了动物对潜在痛苦刺激的反应。

"When the fish's lips are given a painful stimulus they rub the mouth against the side of the tank much like we rub our toe when we stub it," Sneddon says.

斯尼登说:“当鱼的嘴唇受到疼痛刺激时，它们会用嘴摩擦水箱的侧面，就像我们碰到脚趾时一样。”

Besides, the old anglers' adage that fish feel no pain just doesn't add up from an evolutionary perspective. Pain is an efficient messenger that tells us that we've got a problem. An animal that can't feel it won't get that memo, even if hurts itself.

此外，从进化的角度来看，古老的垂钓者的格言“鱼不会感到疼痛”并不成立。疼痛是一个有效的信使，它告诉我们有问题了。没有感觉的动物不会得到那个备忘录，即使它自己受伤了。

"If we accept fish experience pain, then this has important implications for how we treat them," Sneddon says. "Care should be taken when handling fish to avoid damaging their sensitive skin and they should be humanely caught and killed."

斯尼登说:“如果我们接受鱼会经历疼痛，那么这对我们如何对待它们就有重要的意义。”“在处理鱼类时要小心，避免伤害它们敏感的皮肤，它们应该被人道地捕获和杀死。”