Fish can show emotional fever: stress-induced hyperthermia in zebrafish

Whether fishes are sentient beings remains an unresolved and controversial question. Among characteristics thought to reflect a low level of sentience in fishes is an inability to show stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH), a transient rise in body temperature shown in response to a variety of stressors...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2015-11, Vol.282 (1819), p.20152266-20152266
Main Authors: Rey, Sonia, Huntingford, Felicity A., Boltaña, Sebastian, Vargas, Reynaldo, Knowles, Toby G., Mackenzie, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amniota
Animals
Body Temperature
Consciousness
Danio rerio
Emotional Fever
Emotions
Fish Sentience
Fish Welfare
Hot Temperature
Stress, Psychological
Stress-Induced Hyperthermia
Zebrafish
Zebrafish - physiology
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Summary:Whether fishes are sentient beings remains an unresolved and controversial question. Among characteristics thought to reflect a low level of sentience in fishes is an inability to show stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH), a transient rise in body temperature shown in response to a variety of stressors. This is a real fever response, so is often referred to as ‘emotional fever’. It has been suggested that the capacity for emotional fever evolved only in amniotes (mammals, birds and reptiles), in association with the evolution of consciousness in these groups. According to this view, lack of emotional fever in fishes reflects a lack of consciousness. We report here on a study in which six zebrafish groups with access to a temperature gradient were either left as undisturbed controls or subjected to a short period of confinement. The results were striking: compared to controls, stressed zebrafish spent significantly more time at higher temperatures, achieving an estimated rise in body temperature of about 2–4°C. Thus, zebrafish clearly have the capacity to show emotional fever. While the link between emotion and consciousness is still debated, this finding removes a key argument for lack of consciousness in fishes.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2015.2266