Mating..is it all that to fish?

J

JamisonBWolsh

I am what I am. Defender of truth!
Nov 1, 2002
967
1
18
Hawaii
My question is an honest one.


Humans take pleasure in mating.
Does fish... Or is it just instinct?
Im just thinking that having one male in a tank and no females...is that cruel and unusual punishment? when they mate..do they actually feel pleasure or no feeling at all?

If fish can feel pain (which they do)...can we assume they can feel pleasure as well?


No one has ever brought this subject up before and I would honestly like to know...
 
there is an article in the last edition of BassMaster magazine about fish feeling pain. the main gest of it is that they dont. unfortunately, i dont have this issue in front of me at the moment, but i'll post exerts from it in the next day or so.

if they dont feel pain, im pretty sure they wouldnt feel pleasure either. maybe some physical satisfaction of having the mating actually "over with", but nothing more.

*EDIT* if anybody wants the contents of the BassMaster magazine, send me an email.
 
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wait, if they cant feel pain or "pleasure", can they feel anything besides pressure changes and in some cases electrical signals?

in that case, what is all this talk of euthinizing your fish or chopping their heads off or what not in order to ease their pain. make it quick. yada yada. ???
 
i suppose that could be more for our benefit than the fishes. the end result is the same. the way we reach that result and view it is the only difference i can think of.
 
We'll never know what the fish actually feel. It seems clear to me that pain (and pleasure) is not something that our brains evolved recently and uniquely, like the ability to process language. These are old deep brainstem level things.

As far as mating goes, I remember reading somewhere along the line that what we as humans experience is only present in mammals that don't go into heat. The mechanics are similar but apparently the brain chemistry is not. Its the biological payoff that takes the place of being compelled by other impulses. I think its importance is that it allows us schedule when we have offspring. Since a lot of fish are "triggered" by enviromental conditions, I'd assume they don't have a pleasure drive that makes them want to mate -- they're waiting for the dry-season or the rainy season or whatever it is that they're hardwired to wait for.
 
Simply, Dolphins and Humans are the only animals that take plesure in sex. Sorry I can't say where I heard this from, but I recall it being from someone who heard something reliable. It wasn't too long ago either.

Remember, Dolphin's are not fish - they are mammals. And someone mentioned something about language earlier - aren't humans and dolphins the only animals (besides apes and gorrilas) to interpret language? This is a claim only I make, and I doubt it is true (my cat responds to thinks like 'kitty' cuz that what I call him... so he understands. Also my dog, when I spell his name to him 'M-A-X!' he knows it. Maybe because he recognnizes the 'x' sound, which would indicate understanding language.)
 
Why wouldn't fish feel pain? Pain is necessary for survival. Pain is essentially really intense pressure.
People who have an interest in believing that fish are just numb beings- like people who catch fish with a hook- are absolutely going to try to make everyone believe they do not feel pain.
Do not believe it for a minute.
As for pleasure in mating, that is another story. I agree with above that it is more an urge, and a pleasure in the sense of fulfilling that urge. I once had a female firemouth and a female convict that were more than happy to lay eggs and pretend to mate.... and they were not actually ever physically mating.

-vtfish
 
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