Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Vivian Slye
I. Introduction
The ocean has always been an elusive figure to human kind in the past, it’s vastness and
depth are difficult to comprehend. Even though the planet is composed of more water than
land, the creatures that live beneath the surface have always seemed unusual compared to the
furry, feathered, and well known land animals. But why is that? Why does humanity seem to
hold a higher respect for landlocked animals, choosing to more heavily protect them with
various rights, laws, and policies, and believe aquatic life forms to be inferior? Do humans
have more of a connection with land animals simply due to proximity, or is it actually because
they see a likeness within them, a conscious awareness of themselves and their surroundings
that is hard to perceive in the creatures of the deep? Many scientists have dedicated their lives
to discovering these answers and with their research comes numerous studies that touch on
countless related topics. But yet all have the common goal of determining how consciousness
can be seen in animals, and if that consciousness extends to animals of the marine variety.
Through the research and studies showcased, consciousness and sentience can be determined
in specific species of fish and marine invertebrate if they share certain anatomical and
Ever since humanity started walking the earth there have been questions asked that seem
unanswerable. Are humans inherently good or evil? Is time merely just a concept? What
happens after death? But the question of consciousness and if it is only something obtainable
Marine Animal Consciousness 3
by humans has recently been contemplated by the scientific community, specifically those
who study animals. While the philosophical ponderings of Plato, Socrates, and various other
ancient Greeks is an alluring past time, what makes the theory of consciousness stand out is
However, consciousness and sentience have been notoriously difficult to define. Are they
the same as personality? Does having consciousness equal to have a soul? Or is it not a
singular identity, but instead a complex system of traits and behaviors enclosed under the
According to the Oxford dictionary, consciousness has two definitions: “the state of being
aware of and responsive to one's surroundings” and “The fact of awareness by the mind of
itself and the world” (Consciousness, n.d.). And the Oxford dictionary also describes the term
sentient as “able to perceive or feel things” (Sentient, n.d.) While humanity unquestionably
follows all three definitions, what of animals? Undoubtedly animals are aware and responsive
to their surroundings, otherwise they would be unable to differentiate between food, water,
shelter, and danger. And they certainly have the ability to physically feel and respond to
stimuli as shown through their response to pain – as will be further explained later on in the
paper. But are animals, and specifically marine animals, aware of their own minds? Is this
simply only a trait of humans? Or is it obtainable by mammals too? And if so, why hasn’t it
been developed in other species such as bony fish, cephalopods, or other marine creatures?
And how exactly can it be decided if a marine animal has consciousness? While there
may not be an easy checklist of traits one must have to be labeled ‘conscious’, the most
universally held belief by scientists is that the marine animal in question must, at the very
Marine Animal Consciousness 4
least, be able to feel pain (Allen, C., & Trestman, M., 2017). However, other traits biologists
and philosophers together feel may be important for the distinguishing of consciousness
would be memory recall, communication, and of course, the proper anatomy required for all
of these processes.
While there is no denying that marine animals in total have a startling different anatomy
than terrestrial animals, there are a few significant similarities among these species that could
preclude a form of sentience and consciousness. For example, the brains of land mammals,
marine mammals, and the majority bony fish are divided into three regions: the forebrain,
midbrain, and hindbrain. While the hindbrain controls most automatic functions like heart
rate, breathing, and digestion, the midbrain deals most with vision (Kotrschal, Van Staaden, &
Huber 1998). But the most relevant part of the brain in regards to the establishment of
consciousness is the forebrain. This section of the brain manages voluntary movement,
physical feeling and pain, and even includes a hypothalamus and pituitary gland which is the
central location for hormone release and emotional activity (Kotrschal et al, 1998).
Octopuses, while having very different brain structure, have been found to have both an
endocrine and nervous system, which is beneficial for those with the belief of marine animal
Unfortunately, though, for both of these animals, in regards to brain size to body mass or
even the size of the brain in comparison to the size of the brain cavity, results do not look
Marine Animal Consciousness 5
promising. Both fish and octopuses have a significantly smaller brain in comparison to their
bodies, and some fish have even been found to have brains that only take up 6% of their brain
cavity (Kotrschal et al, 1998). And even though brain size in no way directly correlates to
intelligence or emotional capacity, these findings are less than favorable. Other aquatic
creatures, like crustaceans, also have endocrine systems, however, they do not release any sort
of hormone related to reward or pain. Also, their brain and brain stem are combined into
organ called a ganglion (Gordon & Green, 2018). However, findings are even more
unsatisfactory in relation to consciousness when it comes to species like jellyfish and coral.
These creatures are more related to protists and plankton than other nektonic animals because
they don’t have brains and primarily just drift with the tides (D'mello, 2016).
elements that are shared between humans, mammals, and marine life, but the most likely
precursors for sentience would be a sign of a forebrain and within it a hypothalamus and
IV. Pain
Suffering is not an experience any animal enjoys, however, pain does have a practical
purpose. Because pain is an effect of damage to the body, it informs the animal that
something is wrong and needs to be fixed or is used as a punishment for the prior behavior.
And some scientists believe that the ability to feel agony, or at least discomfort, may be a
only processed in the brain. The damage itself may be physical, but pain itself is more
psychological, as the signal for the damage processes in the thalamus. Then a new signal is
released with the inclusion of pain into the rest of the forebrain (Kotrschal et al, 1998). The
anatomy for this effect is the same in both land mammals and bony fish, yet the question
remains: do the fish feel this pain physiologically or is this simply just an unconscious
While all animals can respond to a dangerous or damaging stimulus, usually by quickly
maneuvering away or limited movement of the injured area, that does not correspond to
feeling pain. The ability to understand that damage has been made is known as nociception,
which differentiates from pain as pain is solely a physiological effect that takes place in the
brain while nociception is a nerve response at the scene of the injury (Yue, 2008).
“If one were given local anesthesia before a dentist extracted a tooth, one’s nociceptors—
nerve fibers that produce the sensation of pain when they are stimulated by tissue-damaging
or noxious stimuli—would respond to the tissue damage, yet the feeling of pain would be
So how can it be determined that fish do in fact feel pain? Well according to Balcombe,
and well known marine biologist who wrote an extensive book on the consciousness of fish,
the neuroendocrine system is “virtually identical in bony fish and in mammals” (2016) thus
meaning that the same anatomy that proves to us that land mammals can feel pain is also
present in bony fish as well as other marine creatures. However, much more compelling
evidence for the proof of pain are the various studies that not only measure a fish’s pain
Marine Animal Consciousness 7
response, but also prove that these animals remember the experience in later trials and thus try
to avoid the negative stimulus; therefore, meaning that they could experience long term
memory as well.
V. Memory
Fish are notoriously known for having a “three second memory”, but this is surprisingly
incredibly inaccurate. In humans, memory is mainly controlled by the hippocampus, but this
is only one stop on the neutral network called the Papez circuit which also includes
mammillary gland, the thalamus, and the basal forebrain which all have to do with higher
functioning and cognition (Pressman, 2017). In relation, the brain of a fish does not contain
all of these individual aspects, however, they do have a somewhat condensed version located
in their forebrain which allows them to form new memories as well as recall old ones
(Balcombe, 2016).
In a study done by the University of Michigan, snappers were fed both normal and dyed
sardines (Balcombe, 2016). At first the only difference in the sardines was their color, and the
snappers did not seem to have a preference between the two. However, then, some of the red
dyed sardines were laced with stinging medusa tentacles which caused the snappers pain
(Balcombe, 2016). Very quickly, the snapper learned to avoid all of the red sardines, and
continued to shun them for weeks after, even though they were no longer laced (Balcombe
2016). This study not only highlights the snapper’s ability to feel pain, but they also
remembered events from weeks previous and acted on those memories, creating a learned
Marine Animal Consciousness 8
behavior and proving that they can be conditioned much like a dog can learn to sit on
command.
phenomenon, giant pacific octopuses were handled by both a “nice” keeper who fed them and
a “mean” keeper who touched them with an uncomfortably bristled stick, both of who were
dressed in the same uniform (Godfrey-Smith, 2017). After only two weeks, the octopuses
began to reacted negatively when approached by the “mean” keeper, scooting away, shooting
ink, or spraying them with their siphon, while they would actively move towards the “nice”
keeper to receive food or to play, and continued to act differently to each one for months
following (Godfrey-Smith, 2017). This experiment concluded that octopuses not only have
the ability to remember events from months previous but they can differentiate between
VI. Communication
While it is fairly easy to understand the structure of the brain in many species to see if
they have the different aspects that seemed to be required for sentience. However, the matter
becomes much harder to study and prove sentience when it comes to the behaviors of these
animals, predominately including versions of communication. For the most part, fish
communicate through pheromones which are a type of hormone they can “smell” in the water.
However, interestingly, there was a study done with fathead minnows were different groups
of minnows either had a schreckstoff of a predator released in the water, or were never taught
Marine Animal Consciousness 9
to fear that predator. When both groups were placed in a tank together, the experiment
showed that the minnows were more likely to react in fear if they saw other minnows acting
the same way than if they smell a schreckstoff, thus meaning they were more likely to trust
other minnows than simply only trust themselves in regards to fear, much like humans
(Balcombe, 2016).
While pheromones are the most common use of language in the marine world, recent
studies have found that different types of dolphins actually use their squeaks and whistles as a
basic form of language, one that has actually been recreated in part by human scientist
(Abumrad, 2014). Through the use of an electronic box, the scientists can mimic the whistles
of the dolphins perfectly and have even been able to call the dolphins names, in their native
tongue of course, and gain recognition (Abumrad, 2014). This is a major breakthrough in the
marine biology world because this could give the scientists the leg up they need to form a
bond of trust with these animals which would highly benefit future study.
VII. Conclusion
Despite the numerous evidence and sources regarded during this investigation to
is an allusive subject that is contemplated by biologists and philosophers alike, therefore any
there cannot be any concrete decision based solely on the research down above. However, it
can be deduced that the likelihood of consciousness can be enormously increased if the
species in question possesses a forebrain with various anatomical aspects that function in the
Marine Animal Consciousness 10
simultaneously increasing the likelihood of the species portraying various behaviors such as
The questioning now should turn to the outcome of this investigation. While clearly
the final verdict is still decades away and more in-depth research will be required before any
absolute decision can be made, humanity should still consider their next steps if it is
determined that animals, specifically marine animals, have consciousness and sentience. At
the very least, animals will require more protections and the food and fishing industries will
receive new regulations in order to better benefit our conscious companions. Animal safety
and wellbeing will be taken more into account and destructive human tendencies such as
overfishing and bycatch – which have a damaging effect on the environment and fish lives
alike – will be more heavily monitored. And the fish farms and aquaculture that spurns this
country will no longer have the horrifyingly unhygienic conditions and cramped ponds that
However, a question still remains: why does humanity require for these animals to
have consciousness before they are protected? Why does an inability to feel pain excuse
humans to afflict unnecessary cruelty? Why is it only now that humanity’s motives, methods,
The study and determination of consciousness is equal part philosophy and science,
speculation and evidence, and a true answer may never be discovered. However, the
investigations and research studied like this should at the very least open the eyes of this
Marine Animal Consciousness 11
country to the brutal conditions we inflict onto our animals, whether they are meant for our
consumption or not. Even if it is undoubtable proven that fish cannot feel pain or that
octopuses cannot recognize individual people, that still should not be an excuse to throw out
morality when it comes to the treatment of these animals. If we can truly claim to be the only
conscious being on our planet, then it is our duty to truly be conscious of it. To treat it with
kindness and respect, even though we are aware we cannot expect the same in return.
Because if we can only be conscious of our own cravings, then unfortunately our unique gift
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