Zebrafish are powerful models for pain research that also raise questions about their own welfare during such studies. Understanding zebrafish pain science informs both research ethics and broader fish welfare policy.
Zebrafish pain research occupies an ethically complex position: these animals are used to study pain partly because they show clear behavioral responses to noxious stimuli, yet the welfare implications of inducing pain in fish subjects are not always adequately considered. The very evidence that zebrafish feel pain in research contexts strengthens the case for protecting zebrafish welfare in all contexts - both in pain studies and in routine laboratory management. Ethical pain research on fish requires applying the three Rs rigorously: using validated pain models that use the minimum stimuli necessary, providing analgesia where consistent with the research question, and ensuring fish are in good welfare baseline conditions before any procedure. This research simultaneously advances knowledge about fish pain and the moral obligations it creates.