 incoming tide – fotos by Smith Fish feel pain. In a recent experiment, scientists injected bee venom into the lips of live fish. The injected fish became agitated, and swam down to the bottom of the tank to scrape their lips on the gravel, trying to remove the sensation. The fish that weren’t injected did not become agitated, did not scrape their lips. Ergo, fish have sensor cells in their lips that transmit unpleasant sensation. And if they have pain sensors in their lips, they likely have them in their cheeks and mouths as well, so it must hurt like hell when fisherman yank that hook through. It seems the “accepted truth” that fish don’t feel pain is just a lie fishermen spread to make themselves feel better. Human cheeks have very few pain cells. I read that in 1975, and tested it out myself by pushing a sterilized needle through my right cheek with a pair of pliers. My flesh was way resilient and difficult to push through, but it didn’t hurt – just felt extremely odd. Same article said ear lobes also have few pain cells. Looking around at the multitude of metal-studded pierced people, I wonder if that’s not true with the nostril, tongue, and eyebrow areas as well. Not going to think about folk with pierced genitalia or tattoos.  mad planet – fotos by Smith |
I pierced my own ears when I was fifteen, partly just to freak out my poor aunt, who I was living with. I used ice cubes to dull the feeling and sterilized needles. It took way too long; cartilage is even harder to push through. It didn’t hurt all that much, but the sound was disturbing.