The effects of caustic soda and benzocaine on directed grooming to the eyestalk in the glass prawn, palaemon elegans, are consistent with the idea of pain in decapods

Stuart Barr, Robert W. Elwood*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
24 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Acceptance of the possibility of pain in animals usually requires that various criteria are fulfilled. One such criterion is that a noxious stimulus or wound would elicit directed rubbing or grooming at the site of the stimulus. There is also an expectation that local anaesthetics would reduce these responses to damage. These expectations have been fulfilled in decapod crustaceans but there has been criticism of a lack of replication. Here, we report an experiment on the effects of a noxious chemical, sodium hydroxide, applied to one eyestalk of the glass prawn. This caused an immediate escape tail-flick response. It then caused nipping and picking with the chelipeds at the treated eyestalk but much less so at the alternative eyestalk. Prior treatment with benzocaine also caused an immediate tail-flick and directed behaviour, suggesting that this agent is aversive. Subsequently, however, it reduced the directed behaviour caused by caustic soda. We thus demonstrated responses that are consistent with the idea of pain in decapod crustaceans.

Original languageEnglish
Article number364
Number of pages9
JournalAnimals
Volume14
Issue number3
Early online date23 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was funded by Department for Agriculture and Rural Development, Northern Ireland.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.

Keywords

  • benzocaine
  • caustic soda
  • decapod
  • eyestalk
  • pain
  • Palaemon elegans

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • General Veterinary

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