Mussel farming is often presented as the most sustainable and welfare-friendly aquaculture. But growing evidence about bivalve neurology challenges assumptions about their lack of sentience.
Mussel farming occupies a unique position in animal welfare discussions: it is the production system with the strongest environmental case and the weakest welfare case for concern. If bivalves are not sentient — and current evidence suggests they probably are not — mussel farming is genuinely close to welfare-neutral animal protein production. If they are sentient in some morally relevant way, the welfare implications of farming billions of animals warrant consideration. The honest position is uncertainty paired with continued investment in resolving that uncertainty through research.