Zebrafish are increasingly used to study pain mechanisms, making their own welfare particularly important given that the research purpose directly implicates their capacity to suffer.
The use of zebrafish in pain research creates a specific ethical obligation: animals being studied for their capacity to experience pain must be protected from unnecessary pain experiences themselves. This seems obvious but represents a genuine gap in some research practice. Zebrafish pain research should apply the most rigorous welfare protections available, including anesthesia for all procedures, analgesics where appropriate, minimal induction of pain, and post-procedure monitoring. The Three Rs apply with particular force in this context: replacing zebrafish with in vitro models where possible, reducing numbers through power calculations, and refining procedures to minimize pain are ethical obligations amplified by the research purpose.