At the outset, it should be pointed out that because pain is a subjective experience, it is highly unlikely that any clear-cut, definitive criteria will ever be found to decide this question. However, certain evidence might lead to judgements that pain is more or less likely to occur in one particular kind of invertebrate than in another kind.

Although some insect behavior, such as the writhing of insects poisoned by insecticides, or the struggling of restrained living insects, resembles that of ‘higher animals responding to painful stimuli,’ Eisemann et al. conclude that the resemblance is superficial and that it ‘no more requires the presence of a pain sense than do reflexive withdrawal responses.’

A Question of Pain in Invertebrates
Jane A. Smith, Ph.D.

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