Multidisciplinary Assessment of Crustacean Sentience

Crustacean sentience (the capacity of this group to experience emotions) has sparked a heated debate across multiple disciplines, particularly as it could impact several major sectors such as fisheries and aquaculture.

The outdated argument that animals do not experience negative emotions (such as pain) because they lack conscience, has been proven wrong for vertebrates and some invertebrates (e.g. octopus), but remains controversial for crustaceans.

There is evidence of criteria consistent with the idea of pain, as crustaceans have and activate nociceptive pathways, but there is no evidence of the neural pathways integrating the responses nor the demonstration of the awareness thereafter.

This is partly due to the ‘dispersed’ central nervous system (CNS) these animals present, with multiple ganglia, but no ‘brain’ as a focal point.

To overcome this, MACS aims to apply new technology to measure 9 simultaneous nerve signals (8 ganglia and the heart) to fully understand the nociceptive pathways and how are they integrated in crustaceans’ CNS.

This approach will tackle the principle of triangulation by (1) The development of an electroencephalogram (EEG) to record the nervous system of commercially important crustacean species; (2) the characterization of pain and stress through physiological and molecular animal-based indicators; and (3) the evaluation of behaviour and its neurological integration pathway.

As such, this multidisciplinary study will only be possible through a combination of my crustacean stress physiology background, my supervisor’s knowledge of the central nervous system anatomy, and my second supervisor's expertise in aquatic species' EEG.

The outcome of this fellowship will range from CNS studies to validate current industrial practices (during a non-academic placement), to socio-economic impacts involving the society's concern for animal welfare. The knowledge and skills gained from this project will allow me to become an independent researcher.