Crayfish Sacrificing Its Own Claw to Escape Boiling Soup Shows That Crustaceans Feel Pain Too

Pain is the first sign of life. A dead seashell sitting on the shore can’t feel the pain but a green-tinted shellfish can. But many humans still think animals, especially crustaceans, don’t feel pain. Take crayfish, for example. People rip their shells, scoop out their yellow butter, and then boil them alive in spicy sauces. In 2018, a man in China was boiling some crayfish alive. Destined for the plate, others quietly surrendered to their dreadful fate. But, one crayfish didn’t give up on its life. Mustering all its strength, it struggled hard in pain and escaped the pan of scorching water. The clip was reshared by John Oberg (@johnoberg), an animal welfare advocate, on X.

This is just one example. Recently, a study published in the journal Biology has revealed that crustaceans, like humans, feel pain too. For these wiggly creatures, humans are cruel barbarians. BBC reported in 2018 that the footage of struggling crayfish was captured by social media user Jiuke, who posted it on the popular Chinese platform Weibo. The heart-wrenching clip showed how this crayfish detached one of its own claws to get out of the boiling water alive. Once it did, people on the internet pleaded with Jiuke to let the animal stay alive and not eat it. Thankfully, Jiuke adopted the fish and started raising it in an aquarium.

Jiuke's crayfish was lucky, but most crustaceans are not. China alone is the largest producer of seafood, producing 1.77 million metric tons of marine-based crustaceans and 4.26 million metric tons of freshwater crustaceans. These creatures like crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, barnacles brine shrimp, copepods, ostracods, and mantis shrimp, usually live in water. Billions of people readily kill these creatures to relish their platters of soups, bisques, étouffées, gumbos, bread, rice, patties, and whatnot.

But for the first time, some researchers from the University of Gothenburg have revealed that these beings feel pain. “We need to find less painful ways to kill shellfish if we are to continue eating them. Because now we have scientific evidence that they both experience and react to pain,” Lynne Sneddon, zoophysiologist at the University of Gothenburg, said in a statement. This was the first time they carried out an extensive study on shore crabs, examining whether they felt any pain when touched by harmful external stimuli. They mapped the brain activity of these crabs using an EEG-style experiment. Eleftherios Kasiouras, PhD student at the University of Gothenburg and lead author of the study, reported that the crabs indeed have pain receptors in their soft tissues that react to pain.

The researchers applied a painful vinegar-like chemical and then external pressure to the crab’s soft tissues. In both cases, the creature reacted. They found that the crab’s body reacted more intensely to chemical stress than physical stress. Kasiouras believes that they don’t need to experiment on other crustaceans to confirm that they do feel the pain. “It is a given that all animals need some kind of pain system to cope by avoiding danger," the author said and added, "We can assume that shrimps, crayfish, and lobsters can also send external signals about painful stimuli to their brain which will process this information."

A review commissioned by the UK government also stated that octopuses, crabs, and lobsters feel pain and hence, should be protected from human slaughter, as per CNN. Ultimately, the responsibility to protect these creatures comes down to human beings who must realize what pain these innocent creatures might feel when boiled alive. “All animals have feelings and fears,” said @semlerbrigette in a comment to Oberg’s tweet. Others felt that the footage of struggling crayfish was “unbearable,” “heartbreaking,” and “sad.” @dreamer_crafter said boiling these creatures alive is “pure vile cruelty” and humans will gain nothing by adding them to their menus.