The emergence of consciousness in phylogeny

Fish Cognition and Consciousness

“…Therefore, the reactions of fishes to noxious stimuli are nociceptive and without conscious awareness of pain. Cabanac et al (2009) argue circumstantially (albeit somewhat circumspectly) that the massive expansion of cortical tissue in the amniotes provides further evidence to support the division they propose. Their circumspection comes with reference to Merker's (2007) paper on consciousness without a cerebral cortex, and their admission that there's no solid evidence to locate emotional and affective aspects of consciousness entirely within cortical tissue.…”

“…Nevertheless, a 24hr cycle of activity and quiescence seems to be evolutionarily ancient and it is beyond doubt that many species of fish are less active during one phase of the day than during the other. Cabanac et al (2009) argue, citing Nicolau et al (2000, that the phenomenon of awakening depended on the evolution of a cortex, and they restrict their definition of sleep to slow wave cortical activity. As far as I can tell, the argument by Cabanac et al…”

“…In a recent review article, Michel Cabanac and coauthors (Cabanac et al 2009) argue that consciousness did not emerge until the early Amniota, the group of species that includes mammals, birds, and "reptiles". The latter term is in scare quotes because biologists consider it a paraphyletic group that is improper for classification purposes due to its exclusion of the birds, which descended from the saurians.…”

“…The awake/asleep distinction is not usually in dispute when applied to mammals, although there has been controversy about whether fish sleep (Cabanac et al 2009). …”

Behavioural indicators of welfare in farmed fish

“…Some authors, e.g. Rose (2002Rose ( , 2007 and Cabanac et al (2009), argue that Table 1 Examples of behavioural changes in responses to aquaculture procedures or stressors that could be used as species-specific operational welfare indicators in farmed fish Beaumont et al (1996) Juvenile lake chubsuckers Erimyzon sucetta Scheduled (vs. on demand): : swimming speed and turning angles Noble et al (2007b, c) this is not possible because their behaviour is simple and reflexive and they lack a neocortex. Yet, a growing body of evidence related to cognitive (Braithwaite 2006), neuroanatomic (Portavella and Vargas 2005;Rodriguez et al 2006) and emotional (Sneddon 2007;Yue et al 2008) aspects of fish behaviour provides strong support for sentience (the ability to feel) in fish.…”