魚能感覺到疼痛嗎?

魚能感覺到疼痛嗎?

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

作為一個物種，我們可能會更大聲地抱怨，但我們幾乎沒有疼痛的排他性權利。

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.

我們確實看到過一只狗在護理傷口?；蚴且恢宦乖谕纯嘀泻艉?。但許多動物都默默地忍受著痛苦，我們很樂意克制自己不去問它們的感受，以免它們會毀了我們的晚餐。

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?

當我們知道果蠅能感覺到疼痛的時候，我們對臭蟲叮咬的方式有不同的感覺嗎?或者來一只龍蝦，等著那鍋滾燙的水?

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.

動物世界中最沉默的受害者可能是魚。幾千年來，我們一直在從海洋中收集它們——最近，我們以如此大規(guī)模的效率可能清空海洋。

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

科學再一次讓我們對鯡魚的熱愛陷入困境。

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.

利物浦大學發(fā)表在《英國皇家學會哲學學報B》上的一項新研究發(fā)現，魚感受到疼痛的方式與人類“驚人地相似”。事實上，就像我們一樣，他們會在受傷時換氣過度，停止進食。他們甚至會摩擦身體疼痛的部位。

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.

在這項研究中，來自大學綜合生物學研究所的Lynne Sneddon回顧了現有的研究機構——總共98項研究——并得出結論，它們和我們一樣會感到劇烈的疼痛。

"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.

斯奈登在一份大學新聞稿中指出:“當受到潛在的痛苦事件影響時，魚類會表現出行為上的負面變化，比如停止進食和活動減少，而當提供止痛藥時，這些都是可以避免的。”

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.

為了了解其他物種的疼痛，科學家們研究了痛覺感受器。痛覺感受器是一種特殊的受體，當身體受到損傷時，它會向脊髓和大腦發(fā)送信號。人類的皮膚、骨骼和肌肉中都有這種物質。在許多其他物種中也發(fā)現了痛覺感受器，包括海蛞蝓、軟體動物，甚至那些微小的果蠅。

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?

魚也有同樣的方法來檢測疼痛信號。但科學家們長期以來一直在考慮，他們是否擁有接收它們的設備。換句話說，魚的單層前腦處理疼痛的方式能和靈長類動物復雜得多的大腦處理疼痛的方式一樣嗎?

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

為了找到答案，研究人員觀察了動物對潛在痛苦刺激的反應。

"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.

斯尼登說:“當魚的嘴唇受到疼痛刺激時，它們會用嘴摩擦水箱的側面，就像我們碰到腳趾時一樣。”

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，從進化的角度來看，古老的垂釣者的格言“魚不會感到疼痛”并不成立。疼痛是一個有效的信使，它告訴我們有問題了。沒有感覺的動物不會得到那個備忘錄，即使它自己受傷了。

"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."

斯尼登說:“如果我們接受魚會經歷疼痛，那么這對我們如何對待它們就有重要的意義。”“在處理魚類時要小心，避免傷害它們敏感的皮膚，它們應該被人道地捕獲和殺死。”