Echinoderms such as sea cucumbers and starfish are harvested in large numbers globally, face population collapses from disease, and raise underexplored welfare questions about pain capacity in radially symmetrical animals.
The welfare capacity of echinoderms is poorly understood. They show avoidance responses to noxious stimuli and behavioural flexibility, but evidence of conscious suffering is absent from the scientific literature. Sea star wasting disease causes grotesque tissue necrosis that, if associated with any nociceptive experience, would represent significant suffering at population scale. Overharvesting of sea cucumbers depletes populations in ways that may affect the capacity of individuals to find mates and engage in normal behaviours.