Do corals feel pain?

[zygote2k]

I have a jumbo Neon Green Sinularia and over the last few days I've been making small 2" cuttings from the branch tips. As soon as I make a cutting, the whole colony closes and retracts its' arms/tentacles into a tight ball. I'm wondering if this is purely a defense mechanism or does it actually feel pain from the severing of tissue?

[mogurnda]

I have a pile of papers on cnidarian nervous systems, and several false starts on writing an article about the subject. As techniques get better, it has become clear that cnidarians can have fairly elaborate neural networks. Heck, some jellies have amazing eyes and can move in a directed, coordinated way. Your leather is wired up as a whole organism, and is responding as such. Is it pain? That's more a question for philosophers at this point, because we have no idea what their subjective experience is.

[mrphatstacks]

the polyps are probably just retracting from touching/moving the colony your fragging. just like when a fish swims by zoas they can feel the water move and close up

Edited December 3, 2009 by mrphatstacks

[Sikryd]

To "feel" pain there has to be a brain attached to interpret the electrical sensations sent out by the nervous system.

[treesprite]

Pain is a subjective interpretation of sensory input. A creature would have to have some means by which to interpret physical sensations into mental concepts.

[dandy7200]

lol really? I feel I'm a pretty sensitive guy and all but.....ok, maybe it is just a general pondering type question and not a sensitivity issue. So my answer is no. Or possibly. No, I'm pretty sure it is a no. Right? The one that has been bothering me lately is: If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?