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Do decapod crustaceans feel pain? How can we explore this question, and why does it matter? �
Jesi Gibbs, Melissa Hughes, Michael Ruscio, John Widholm. College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United States

Researchers have an ethical obligation to reduce unnecessary harm to animals that putatively experience pain, and in most places globally, welfare policy considers only vertebrate animals. A growing body of research suggests that some species of decapod crustaceans, a taxon commonly used in research applications, are capable of pain experience. However, there are large gaps in evidence across species, particularly in shrimp. This study explores this question in a snapping shrimp (Alpheus angulosus), using behavioral and neurobiological methods, comparing shrimp exposed to a noxious heat stimulus to uninjured shrimp. First, I will attempt to demonstrate conditioned place avoidance in heat-injured shrimp. Second, I will attempt to quantify nitric oxide – a molecule associated with pain processing – in snapping shrimp brains. This study will provide a novel characterization of a nitric oxide synthase in the snapping shrimp brain and has the potential to provide the first evidence for pain experience in a shrimp species. Results from this study have implications for animal welfare regulations in research and global commercial practice.