Accumulating evidence suggests that prawns and shrimp have nociceptive systems capable of pain responses, with welfare implications for the billions of individuals used in global seafood production annually.
The welfare status of prawns has shifted from presumed-insensible to genuinely uncertain over the past decade. Behavioral evidence for pain responses — protracted avoidance, wound-guarding — goes beyond simple reflexes and suggests some capacity for aversive experience. Given the billions of prawns killed annually in commercial fishing and aquaculture, even a small probability of sentience warrants serious welfare consideration and development of more humane handling and killing standards.