Are the fish in your aquarium happy? Five things to look out for

By Matt Parker, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Sleep Science, University of Surrey

If 1,500 captive mammals suffocated to death in a zoo, their suffering would spark an outcry. So when a Berlin hotel aquarium exploded at the end of 2022, why did so few people comment on the welfare of the fish? Aquatic species don’t seem to induce the same emotional response. And this disparity is clouding our understanding of their lives in captivity.

After decades of studying sentience in fish (that is, their capacity to experience feelings and sensations), the consensus among scientists is that fish…

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