Home Fish Science Can Jellyfish Feel Pain? (3-minute Read)

Can Jellyfish Feel Pain? (3-minute Read)

by gvald

Most people have a lot of questions about jellyfish, because they do not have a central nervous system – a brain.

 

They do have a nervous system, but it consists only of a network of nerves and pairs of ganglia. It is therefore very unlikely that these jellyfish can feel pain, or at least pain comparable to ours or to vertebrates.

 

Do jellyfish feel pain?

Jellyfish do not feel pain, at least not in the same way as we do, but they do have a neural system that allows them to respond if they touch something.

 

As they do not have a brain, their actions are not directed by endorphins.

 

This is an avenue that has not yet been explored by scientists, we know that jellyfish do not feel pain as we do, but they must feel something, they must know if they are dead or alive.

 

Do jellyfish feel or think?

Their neural system is very primitive, the latter is called ganglia in jellyfish, it is obviously impossible for them to feel any emotions, such as pleasure, fear, anger and pain.

 

The jellyfish does not have a centralized nervous system in a brain, but it can perceive the light, feel and balance in the water thanks to sense organs, the rhopalies, distributed in the recesses around the parasol.

 

The jellyfish does not have a heart, but channels leave its central stomach to distribute the products of digestion in all its body. Other channels carry waste products that are expelled through the mouth.

 

The mouth and stomach of the jellyfish are its only central organs. Its large stomach can be seen through after a meal. Digestion is rapid and meals are frequent.

 

Can jellyfish get hurt?

Just because jellyfish don’t feel pain, doesn’t mean they can’t get hurt. Jellyfish do have a number of predators. It also happens that jellyfish hurt themselves, you may have even seen jellyfish washed up on the beach.

 

Moreover, pollution does not help them, it happens indeed that jellyfish get stuck in abandoned fishing nets, or that they cut themselves with pieces of metal that fell into the water.

 

What kills a jellyfish?

Although these stinging cells allow it to defend itself, the jellyfish also has predators. Their main predators include large fish such as sunfish and bluefin tuna, some sea anemones, but their biggest predators are sea turtles, such as the loggerhead or leatherback turtle.

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