Cephalopods including octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish are increasingly recognized as likely sentient animals. Legal welfare protections are expanding to cover these cognitively complex invertebrates.
The evidence for cephalopod sentience — including nociception, learned avoidance, and self-medication behavior — makes extending welfare consideration to these animals scientifically defensible. Current commercial fishing and processing of squid and octopus has no welfare requirements whatsoever. Extending the principles used for vertebrate welfare to cognitively complex invertebrates is increasingly supported by neuroscience.