If so: how do they handle those parasites that consume their tongues without dying from the pain? They have no appendages, fingers, or other means to remove the parasite so how to they not just succumb from the excruciating pain? (Also, how does that bug parasite thing then survive in their mouth?)
Lots of confusion here!
In: 8
nothing dies from pain. Pain is how our brains interpret negative stimuli, and (in a sense) doesn’t exist as a concrete entity, but only as an experience in our minds. That’s why when we’re put under anaesthesia for surgeries we don’t feel anything while doctors do otherwise extremely painful things to our body.
Since fish have nervous systems like us we can show that they respond to negative stimuli like we do. But it’s not entirely possible to know if fish brains interpret those signals the same way human brains do since we can’t communicate with them like we do with each other.
Historically people assumed (even doctors, researchers, or “experts”) that fish or animals don’t feel pain (same with human babies!) since they are more “simple” than talking adult human beings who can express themselves, that simpler creatures are just “reacting” out of biological programming. But modern research shows that even simpler creatures like crustaceans and fish can experience negative events, remember for a long time, and modify their behaviour accordingly which hints at them having an internal mind that makes them more than just simple little robots.
animals (including people) are born with the incredible drive to live, even with pain, even through excruciating trauma. We, as modern humans, live an incredibly comfortable lifestyle where we sometimes forget how harsh and painful life can be, and how strong the instinct for survival is.
the bug parasite eats and becomes the replacement for the fish’s tongue, and eats a portion of whatever the fish eats to continue living. Once you lose a tongue I suspect that it stops hurting after a while and you get used to it.
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