# do shrimps and lobsters feel pain when boiled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036 "2004-07-14T06:34:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/41 "2004-07-15T14:35:11Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Never cook dead crabs with live ones, unless you’re the one doing the killing. Toxins in a dead crab can spread to the others. The best way to cook crabs is to kill them by chopping them in half, then cleaning out the insides (remember to remove the gills). Do not eat the “crab butter”, since this is where many toxins are concentrated. Yes, as I said, you never cook the already-dead ones. It will make you VERY sick. Cooking soft-shell crabs and hard-shell crabs is different - you have to remove the gills from soft-shells first, since you usually fry them, and then eat the whole thing. With hard-shells, you steam them in a big pot (like lobsters) and then crack them open and just eat the meat. I’ve never heard it called “crab butter” but if you mean the “mustard” yeah, I always eat that. Most people do. It’s gooooood. We have been warned this year, however, to back off on eating it, since the Bay is supposed to be more polluted than previous years. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/42 "2004-07-15T15:12:03Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > Yes, as I said, you never cook the already-dead ones. It will make you VERY sick. > Cooking soft-shell crabs and hard-shell crabs is different - you have to remove the gills from soft-shells first, since you usually fry them, and then eat the whole thing. > With hard-shells, you steam them in a big pot (like lobsters) and then crack them open and just eat the meat. > > I’ve never heard it called “crab butter” but if you mean the “mustard” yeah, I always eat that. Most people do. It’s gooooood. We have been warned this year, however, to back off on eating it, since the Bay is supposed to be more polluted than previous years. And were I to need any assistance in how to eat/prepare crab I would look no further than someone from Baltimore. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/43 "2004-07-16T21:16:29Z")
Excellent post, **Johnny LA**. So, it all depends on whetether lobsters, mussels and shrimp have nociceptors. Now all we need is an expert in insect-arachnoidy neurology. I’m surprised that this thread has convinced me that it is ethically OK to eat shrimp and mussels (but not lobsters!) that have been boiled alive. I didn’t expect that. Thanks everyone! ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/44 "2004-07-16T22:37:52Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@brane damaj](#): > > > > In come eastern cultures, they boil live dogs to eat. > > What?! Can you give any sort of credible evidence to back this up? The blistering reaction makes fur easier to remove. I’ve only seen it done to cats, though I suppose it would work for dogs as well. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/45 "2004-07-16T22:55:14Z")
Seen it done to cats? Sweet JESUS! Please, don’t elaborate. Really don’t. I’m serious. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/46 "2004-07-17T01:11:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Excellent post, **Johnny LA**. So, it all depends on whetether lobsters, mussels and shrimp have nociceptors. Now all we need is an expert in insect-arachnoidy neurology. Thanks, **Maastricht**. Actually, it depends on more than whether the animal has nociceptors. It’s not at all clear whether fish feel “pain” (and by extension, whether crustacea do). I think (and IANA biologist; though I’d like to be) that while the animals exhibit reactions designed to stop or prevent harm to themselves, their brains are not sufficient to define them as reactions to pain. As the article says, “If the apparatus isn’t there – which it’s not in fish – the sensation isn’t either.” So go ahead and boil those lobsters! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036/47 "2004-07-17T01:26:09Z")
hijack, continued… > [@BiblioCat](#): > > Well, that’s what happened. We were in Georgia (maybe that doesn’t qualify as the Deep South, sorry), and I think we were in a Denny’s or Shoney’s or some place like that. > I grew up in Maryland, and I’ve always said “puh-cahn” and that’s how everyone I know says it. The waitress had a very strong Southern accent, almost that stereotypical “hick” accent. > She had come over and asked, “Kin ah git ya’ll sumpin’ fo’ zert?” > When I asked for the “puh-cahn” pie, she had no idea what I wanted. I said it again, and then pointed to it. She laughed and said, “Oh, you want ‘pee-can’ pah!” as if I was the one who was saying it wrong, and I’m sure to her, I was was. First of all, **Shagnasty** is totally high. I pronounce it “pee-can pah,” as does every other native Georgian I’ve ever met. Unless they were making fun of uppity Yankees for pronouncing it “pi CAHN.” Second, Georgia is definitely the Deep South. How much more deep can you go? Any farther south, you hit Florida. And they ain’t southern. Third, I highly doubt the waitress was correcting you, especially if she were laughing. It was more of a “Well now don’t that beat all! We’re speakin’ the same language an I din’t even understand you!” Fourth, if you truly were in Georgia, as you claim, what were you doing at a Denny’s?!? There had to be at least two Waffle Houses on the same exit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-shrimps-and-lobsters-feel-pain-when-boiled/255036.md?page=2)