Small Brain, No Pain?
Do Bass Feel Pain?

Photo: Berkley Berkley's Dr. Keith Jones says that there's a possibility that bass feel pain, but it's nothing even close to the human experience of pain.

The following is a presentation of scientific facts coupled with some educated guesses about whether bass feel any pain at all. This information is based on the book Knowing Bass by Dr. Keith Jones. It applies equally to all bass species, unless noted.

Biology Rules

Jones observes in his book that humans have a set of free nerve endings in our skin that are very specialized. They allow us to discriminate between light pressure and heat, for example. Bass have free nerve endings in their skin but they are not so specialized. "Fish are greatly limited in their ability to discern differing sensations," Jones notes.

Along with the free nerve endings, humans also have a completely separate set of pain receptors. "Pain is not simply an intense feeling. It has a disturbing quality of sensation all its own. Pain sensation does not arise from overstimulation of the same receptors that routinely sense touch, stretch, pressure, heat, and cold. Pain has its own specific set of receptors (called nociceptors) and its own specific nerve pathways to the brain."

Bass don't have these nociceptors.

Then there is the processing of the signals from the pain receptors. "The vast majority of our pain perception is developed in the sensory cortex (of the human brain)," he writes. "In a complicated neural array involving thousands of nerve cells, the cortex constructs the sensation of pain. Without the neocortex, we feel no pain.

"But fish don't have a neocortex nor anything equivalent to it," he continues. "Without a neocortex, fish cannot mentally construct complex feelings of pain like those in humans. They cannot possibly feel pain like we feel pain."

What Do They Feel?

"If fish such as bass don't feel our kind of pain, can we conclude that they feel no pain at all?" asks Jones. "Not entirely. The possibility remains that fish possess alternative brain structures for pain generation.

"In my opinion, the possibility that bass and other fish feel pain remains just that – a possibility.

"If fish do feel pain (and that's still a big if)," he adds, "(They) assuredly do not feel pain as we feel pain, and their pain perception will not be accompanied with all the emotional and mental baggage we humans tend to attach to painful circumstances."

Why Do They Struggle So?

If a bass isn't feeling pain when he's been hooked by an angler, then why does it struggle so violently? "Of course, bass feel something when hooked," Jones says. "How else would they recognize when and where to struggle? If we ask whether that feeling must be pain, the answer is no."

Bass have instinctive behaviors for survival, exhibited even by juveniles with little life experience. The escape response evoked by being hooked, or caught by a predator, is to struggle violently in a manner that increases its chance of escaping.

Jones illustrates that such reactions do not require actual injury to be expressed. If someone swings a fist at your face, you'll blink. If they do not contact you, you'll still blink. That is a defensive mechanism, a reflex, to minimize damage to your eyes. "The behavior anticipates pain, but it doesn't require pain, or even contact, to be evoked," he says.

"Fish escape behavior is a general reaction to potential harm expressed under a wide variety of circumstances," he continues. "Bass fishing definitely elicits a strong escape behavior from bass when hooked. That cannot, however, be taken as evidence that bass suffer pain from angling."

Take-Away Points

> While fish certainly can be injured or stressed by angling, they're not likely suffering any feelings of pain.

> Bass are often caught and released, only to turn around and strike again the same or next day. Such behavioral evidence does not fit the mammalian model of pain.

> If you or someone you know is not fishing due to concern about causing pain to the fish, stop worrying. Go fishing and enjoy it.

Notable

> Because so much of pain perception in humans is cerebral, we are able to completely alter our sensation of pain in some circumstances. For example, a mother who is injured in a car wreck may be able to ignore her own pain to tend first to her children. Or a soldier may report feeling little pain despite massive wounds, apparently so relieved at being rescued that he can suppress the feelings of pain.

> Jones notes: "Injury detection is a function of the pain receptors in the skin and elsewhere. Pain perception is a function of the brain. Pain, as we know it, is the product of our sophisticated mind."

> Dr. Keith "Doc" Jones is director of research at the Berkley Fish Research Center in Spirit Lake, Iowa. His book "Knowing Bass, The Scientific Approach to Catching More Fish" is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers.