Half time seminar: “Investigating welfare in decapod crustaceans”
Science and Information Technology
Half time seminar with PhD student Eleftherios Kasiouras, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Half time seminar with PhD student Eleftherios Kasiouras, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Focus for Eleftherios’ PhD-project is if and how crustaceans react to potentially painful stimuli, see below. Opponent at the seminar is Alexandra Abramsson, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology , GU, and examiner is Joachim Sturv, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences. Eleftherios’ main supervisor is Lynne Sneddon with Albin Gräns (SLU) as co-supervisor.
Short abstract
Decapod crustaceans, including lobsters, crabs, crayfish, prawns, and shrimp, are economically important in fisheries and aquaculture as well as being used as experimental subjects in the laboratory. Recently, several countries have begun to acknowledge the possibility that decapods may experience pain, but further research is necessary to provide conclusive evidence. Empirical evidence suggests the possibility of pain in these animals and thus it is crucial to understand whether they can detect damaging stimuli, exhibit altered behavioural responses to painful stimuli and use this information to develop humane killing practices. While there are several criteria for defining pain in animals, many have not been thoroughly explored in crustaceans. Investigation of nociceptors that detect injurious stimuli, responses to an acute pain stimulus that are modulated by pain relieving drugs, and comparison of different killing methods in decapod crustaceans will be presented.