Halvtidsseminarium: “Investigating welfare in decapod crustaceans”

Fokus för  med Eleftherios doktorandprojekt är att undersöka om och hur kräftdjur reagerar på potentiellt smärtsamma stimuli och hur man ska avliva dem på det mest (för djuret) skonsamma sätt.  Opponent vid seminariet är Alexandra Abramsson, Institutionen för neurovetenskap och fysiologi, GU,  och examinator Joachim Sturve, institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap. Eleftherios huvudhandledare är Lynne Sneddon, med  Albin Gräns (SLU) som bihandledare.

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.