BIOLOGY OF FISHES
they had torn them came and swallowed that hook baited
with its own insides.
"Many anglers use live bait, that is ~hey throw out a live
small fish impaled on a hook to attract fishes like the leervis,
which feed chiefly on smaller fish which they chase and
catch and swallow alive. I have had numerous letters condemning the use of live bait, which many people consider
bestial cruelty and feel should be stopped.
"While sympathising with that view, one must realise that
millions of big fishes are continually eating smaller fishes
alive. An angler was fishing for leervis using a live stumpnose as bait. As usual it was hooked through the back, and
cast out alive. Not long afterwards there was a strongish pull
on the line, but no run, and the angler reeled in. The live
bait was still there, still live, and he was about to throw it out
again when he noticed what looked like a thread protruding
from its mouth. Investigating, he found that the thread was
a feeler of a fair sized prawn that was in the mouth of his live
bait fish; the prawn was alive and still kicking. So this
stumpnose, with a big hook pushed through its back, so far
from being in agony and fear, had felt so little that it had
pursued and captured a live prawn. Its sudden spurt in chase
of the prawn had been the disturbance felt by the angler on
his line.
"Non-anglers often rail against the cruelty of anglers on
the grounds that when they pull fish out on shore they often
leave the poor creatures thrashing about in agony on the
beach. This is, however, not the case at all. Whether a fish is
in or out of the water it can move its muscles and body in
only one way. That live fish on the beach is not in agony at
all; it is only making the same movements as it would if it
were swimming in the water, i.e. rapid flexing of the body,
which on land causes it to jump and thrash about.
"If you feel sentimental about fishes, stop and realise that
while man has changed life on the land, in the water he has
no influence; life is as primitive as it has always been. The
law is, 'eat or be eaten'. For every fish caught by an angler,
millions die a death which by sentimental human standards
is cruel and violent. They are swallowed alive, torn to pieces,
chopped in half, or eaten alive bit-by-bit while held struggling vainly in tentacles, and there is nothing whatever that
the whole of mankind can do about it.
"It is interesting to note that even 'land animals' feel little
pain when in the sea. It is well known that people attacked
by sharks, even when badly mutilated, feel no pain at the
time. A man may have his leg bitten off and not know it has
happened until he sees the blood. It is true that sometimes
even on land, shock may inhibit pain from mutilation, for a
time; the real pain comes only later. However, it is a common experience that after working about rocks or reefs underwater, it is only when you come out of the water that you
discover cuts and lacerations which, had they happened on
land, would have hurt but of which you were quite unaware
under the water. This is possibly also because small or mod10
erate wounds do not bleed until you come out of the water.
Under water, the pressure of the water seals small severed
or damaged surface blood vessels and so prevents bleeding.
It cannot overcome the blood pressure in a human artery,
but it does close even severed arteries in fishes whose blood
pressure is less. That is one of the reasons why fishes can
survive terrible wounds .
. "It is curious that venoms and toxins produced by sea
creatures that are deadly to land animals appear to have no
effect on fishes. One may cite the case of the venomous
serrated spines of the sea-barbel, a stab from which causes
terrible agony, sometimes death in man. As has been shown,
large fishes have been found with broken barbel spines embedded in their mouths, which plainly had not affected the
fishes nor caused them to stop eating barbels ... One can
therefore deduce that if fishes feel any sensation of pain, it
almost certainly does not distress them in any way. This is
borne out by the numerous examples cited above of their indifference to wounds and damage that in higher animals
would certainly result in severe pain and probably death as
well."
When a lobotomy has been performed on a human being
(i.e. the nerves to the frontal lobes of the brain are cut) he
can feel pain but is not distressed by it. Pain of sorts must be
felt by an animal to make it realise that something injurious
is happening. Therefore it seems logical that having no
frontal lobes to its primitive brain, a fish is not likely to be
distressed by any pain it feels.
Reproduction and development
The great diversity of fishes is shown in their varied
modes of reproduction. There are two main types of reproduction: viviparity and oviparity. Most fishes are oviparous, which means they produce eggs that develop and hatch
outside the body of the female. Fertilisation generally takes
place externally, and the oviparous species are the most
fecund of all animals. A single codfish (Gadus rnarhua) of
the North Atlantic Ocean is said to produce some 9 million
eggs per year; a 25 kg specimen of another gadid, the ling
(Malva rnalva) , was estimated to have over 28 million eggs
in its ovaries. Both of these species, like most of the marine
teieosts, produce tiny buoyant eggs that are released by the
millions and fertilised in the mass spawnings of these
schooling species. Tropical species generally spawn more
than once a year and usually in small groups or in pairs. The
small pelagic eggs float near the surface and take only a day
or two to hatch. Soon after hatching, the rapidly growing
larvae have exhausted their small yolk supply and must
begin feeding. In tropical waters, the larvae will spend
about 8 weeks drifting in the surface waters and feeding on
the plankton. In temperate seas, the larval stage may last 4
or 5 months (12 months or more for the eel, Anguilla).
they had torn them came and swallowed that hook baited
with its own insides.
"Many anglers use live bait, that is ~hey throw out a live
small fish impaled on a hook to attract fishes like the leervis,
which feed chiefly on smaller fish which they chase and
catch and swallow alive. I have had numerous letters condemning the use of live bait, which many people consider
bestial cruelty and feel should be stopped.
"While sympathising with that view, one must realise that
millions of big fishes are continually eating smaller fishes
alive. An angler was fishing for leervis using a live stumpnose as bait. As usual it was hooked through the back, and
cast out alive. Not long afterwards there was a strongish pull
on the line, but no run, and the angler reeled in. The live
bait was still there, still live, and he was about to throw it out
again when he noticed what looked like a thread protruding
from its mouth. Investigating, he found that the thread was
a feeler of a fair sized prawn that was in the mouth of his live
bait fish; the prawn was alive and still kicking. So this
stumpnose, with a big hook pushed through its back, so far
from being in agony and fear, had felt so little that it had
pursued and captured a live prawn. Its sudden spurt in chase
of the prawn had been the disturbance felt by the angler on
his line.
"Non-anglers often rail against the cruelty of anglers on
the grounds that when they pull fish out on shore they often
leave the poor creatures thrashing about in agony on the
beach. This is, however, not the case at all. Whether a fish is
in or out of the water it can move its muscles and body in
only one way. That live fish on the beach is not in agony at
all; it is only making the same movements as it would if it
were swimming in the water, i.e. rapid flexing of the body,
which on land causes it to jump and thrash about.
"If you feel sentimental about fishes, stop and realise that
while man has changed life on the land, in the water he has
no influence; life is as primitive as it has always been. The
law is, 'eat or be eaten'. For every fish caught by an angler,
millions die a death which by sentimental human standards
is cruel and violent. They are swallowed alive, torn to pieces,
chopped in half, or eaten alive bit-by-bit while held struggling vainly in tentacles, and there is nothing whatever that
the whole of mankind can do about it.
"It is interesting to note that even 'land animals' feel little
pain when in the sea. It is well known that people attacked
by sharks, even when badly mutilated, feel no pain at the
time. A man may have his leg bitten off and not know it has
happened until he sees the blood. It is true that sometimes
even on land, shock may inhibit pain from mutilation, for a
time; the real pain comes only later. However, it is a common experience that after working about rocks or reefs underwater, it is only when you come out of the water that you
discover cuts and lacerations which, had they happened on
land, would have hurt but of which you were quite unaware
under the water. This is possibly also because small or mod10
erate wounds do not bleed until you come out of the water.
Under water, the pressure of the water seals small severed
or damaged surface blood vessels and so prevents bleeding.
It cannot overcome the blood pressure in a human artery,
but it does close even severed arteries in fishes whose blood
pressure is less. That is one of the reasons why fishes can
survive terrible wounds .
. "It is curious that venoms and toxins produced by sea
creatures that are deadly to land animals appear to have no
effect on fishes. One may cite the case of the venomous
serrated spines of the sea-barbel, a stab from which causes
terrible agony, sometimes death in man. As has been shown,
large fishes have been found with broken barbel spines embedded in their mouths, which plainly had not affected the
fishes nor caused them to stop eating barbels ... One can
therefore deduce that if fishes feel any sensation of pain, it
almost certainly does not distress them in any way. This is
borne out by the numerous examples cited above of their indifference to wounds and damage that in higher animals
would certainly result in severe pain and probably death as
well."
When a lobotomy has been performed on a human being
(i.e. the nerves to the frontal lobes of the brain are cut) he
can feel pain but is not distressed by it. Pain of sorts must be
felt by an animal to make it realise that something injurious
is happening. Therefore it seems logical that having no
frontal lobes to its primitive brain, a fish is not likely to be
distressed by any pain it feels.
Reproduction and development
The great diversity of fishes is shown in their varied
modes of reproduction. There are two main types of reproduction: viviparity and oviparity. Most fishes are oviparous, which means they produce eggs that develop and hatch
outside the body of the female. Fertilisation generally takes
place externally, and the oviparous species are the most
fecund of all animals. A single codfish (Gadus rnarhua) of
the North Atlantic Ocean is said to produce some 9 million
eggs per year; a 25 kg specimen of another gadid, the ling
(Malva rnalva) , was estimated to have over 28 million eggs
in its ovaries. Both of these species, like most of the marine
teieosts, produce tiny buoyant eggs that are released by the
millions and fertilised in the mass spawnings of these
schooling species. Tropical species generally spawn more
than once a year and usually in small groups or in pairs. The
small pelagic eggs float near the surface and take only a day
or two to hatch. Soon after hatching, the rapidly growing
larvae have exhausted their small yolk supply and must
begin feeding. In tropical waters, the larvae will spend
about 8 weeks drifting in the surface waters and feeding on
the plankton. In temperate seas, the larval stage may last 4
or 5 months (12 months or more for the eel, Anguilla).