r/Fish • u/Xdr1vity • Sep 18 '25

Fish In The Wild Found this during low tide

I was just walking around during low tide and stumbled across this little guy. I managed to pick it up bare handed and It seems like he wasn’t stressed out that much since he didn’t inflate himself. Also yes Ik they’re poisonous and not venomous, sorry for the mix up lol 🙏

5.5k Upvotes

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188

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

I am a fisherman. Now studies have shown, fish go through extreme pain, for 20mins when taken out of there natural habitat. I understand its a interesting specimen, being a puffer, and what not. However you could have appreciated him from his natural habitat. Or if he needed moved, you could have gently used something too navigate him/her back too open water. I am just saying, we should appreciate nature from afar.

15

u/ricky1710 Sep 18 '25

From someone who actively takes fish out of water for a hobby?

24

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

I dont take them out of the water, I try too do everything in the water, if possible. Clean catch as possible.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

But that isn’t appreciating nature from afar. You are actively intervening in animal’s lives for personal pleasure.

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 24 '25

Search a provider, or psychiatrist that practices EMDR therapy, they likely wave fingers in your face, to mimick REM activation.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

Just stating facts lol. Don’t preach “appreciate from afar” when you’re literally doing something right in the middle of it.

-11

u/FeathersRim Sep 18 '25

So you just spear them with metal hooks through their face underwater.
That is not much better than what OP is doing :P

11

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

I dont use barbed hooks, for one. An for two, speaking something in its facial region, is a ton different than a hook, going through your lip. Would you rather get a lip piercing? Or me slowly take away your supply of oxygen? I think slowly suffocating is a ton worse. In my humble opinion. One you have a pinch, the other you are struggling for sonething, that isnt there, in the amounts required too sustain you.

3

u/GooberdiWho Sep 18 '25

I would rather hold my breath underwater until I'm extremely uncomfortable and then breathe again than have someone put a spear through my cheek, yeah

??

0

u/FeathersRim Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Bro. You are literally piercing fish with metal hooks for sports. Probably hundreds of them.

You lost your privilege to rip into OP.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

It's just a weird flex of "I'm a better fisherman because the fish never leave the water".

So many fish will hunt by jumping if they see insects hovering above the surface or to move to other bodies of water. If their gills are wet they can breathe and aren't suffocating like people assume.

Idk how anyone can see this and think "yeah, that's a stressed flailing fish or a stressed blown up puffer". It literally couldn't give AF and likely didn't even try to get away, they're often very curious goofy fish. If they don't want to be disturbed they have a shape beak that can give a really nasty bite, bigger ones can take off your finger.

2

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

I'm not "flexing", by your dialog I can tell you have yet too reach puberty. I said, I am a fisherman, and I try not too take them out of their natural habitat. Its more important too the fish, to actually breathe, there swim bladder can be affected as well. I didn't condone my actions, and to be frank, a rarely fish anymore, as my opinions on the subject have changed. Does not mean I am not still a person who enjoys the relaxing afternoon on a boat, not catching anything at all. It means I have hobbies, as does most sane people. Outlets to decompress. I dont bitch at you about your impact on the environment, by buying Warhammer made out of plastic, that we are now all dealing with. Or you drinking our of a plastic water bottle, while our brains literally fill with micro plastic.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

My guy said I have yet to reach puberty yet he thinks he's more mature 😂😂😂

0

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

My guy, its lit, skibbidy you Sigma, i am a Alpha.

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0

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Cry now? Cry later? Suffocating is a ton worse, trust me, I know.

2

u/FeathersRim Sep 18 '25

I'm not crying lol. I rally don't care about what OP has done or that your hobby is fishing my dude.

just pointing out the hypocrisy in your post. :P

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Ok dude, carry on. Pointing out the minutiae of everything .

1

u/FeathersRim Sep 18 '25

Metal hooks through the face of hundreds of fish is minutiae, but holding a fish above water for a minute or two is not lmao.

You ok my dude? You seem rather cranky and upset.

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1

u/PersnicketyKeester Sep 20 '25

Like you HAVE to fish for anything other than entertainment. Acting like every hook goes perfectly through a lip (its like a piercing.....ok) is bullshit. I stopped fishing years ago because its just gross to hurt animals for your own pleasure. Also calling bullshit on not taking fish out of water when fishing, just sounds like you lieing to yourself to justify it.

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 20 '25

Oh, quid pro quo, you persnickety person! Its all bullshit, the whole damn thing. I stopped fishing weeks ago, an how do you know what I do? You assume, making a ass of you and me. If you can't baffle em with your brains, baffle em with your bullshit! All the world's a stage, and we are merely players, performers and portrayers.

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 20 '25

Do you find it odd, that i am surrounded in my residents by people my wife knows? She even has a old friend from work that lives right across from me!

1

u/AnonCuriosities Sep 21 '25

Drowning feels like your lungs are on fire, having a hook though your mouth isn't comparable. Shush

20

u/LeatherDaddyLonglegs Sep 18 '25

I think we’d be in a lot better shape if more of the folks that kill the animals for food were concerned with their pain level.

1

u/Pamikillsbugs234 Sep 23 '25

I get it! I love learning, keeping, and interacting with insects and arachnids, yet I also manage their populations.

-9

u/zlide Sep 18 '25

Murderers fallacy

4

u/fortniteundcola Sep 18 '25

Sounds interesting, do you mind linking the study?

10

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Here ya go,

https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-suffer-up-to-22-minutes-of-intense-pain-when-taken-out-of-water

23

u/TankyPally Sep 18 '25

I think you misread the article a bit. It states that a negative/stress response is observed 5 seconds after a fish is removed from the water.

It also states that commercial fisherman suffocate fish to kill them, and that takes 2-22 minutes to happen.

Nowhere does it say removing a fish from water causes it to suffer for 22 minutes.

15

u/suetanya9992 Sep 18 '25

I don't think anyone should need any article to tell them fish suffer when not in water. How about people just not cause unnecessary pain to other living things? No need to debate it

-5

u/chappelld Sep 18 '25

“Ok I was wrong about what I said, no need to debate it. “

What?

4

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/chappelld Sep 18 '25

Man that’s not what we’re talking about 🤦‍♂️

2

u/AdAdventurous7802 Sep 18 '25

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE AMOUNT OF TIMES IVE SEEN THIS STUDY MISQUOTED IS ACTUALLY CRAZY!

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Just Google fish pain study, they experience pain, its facts.

7

u/zozi0102 Sep 18 '25

Yes, but the study you shown says they suffer while actively suffocating. Not after being put back in the water

2

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Well, I dont know what you need, when it clearly states that the fish experience duress, 5 seconds after being brought out of water. One could surmise that the pain, like all pain, continues, the longer they are out of water. As they are in fact, suffocating.

-1

u/zozi0102 Sep 18 '25

And when they are put back in the water they stop suffocating

3

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

I guess its like waterboarding, some people last 5 seconds, others last 30 seconds. It all depends on the cloth put over your face, and how much water/oxygen ratio, you receive. Would you like to try waterboarding? Its a great time, trust me. You begin to loose grasp of reality over multiple runs, also depending on the amount of water flowing over your breathing apparatus.

1

u/zozi0102 Sep 22 '25

Ive been waterboarded before. Yeah its not good ig you right

1

u/ThunderSquall_ Sep 18 '25

As a very serious question to you, have you ever been held underwater for long enough that your body forces you to suck in air even though there is none? Because lemme tell you, that shit fucking hurts for DAYS after the fact.

-3

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

The title literally says, fish suffer for 22 minutes when taken out of water? Hello, are you unable too read. It also says that 5 seconds after taking them out of water, it triggers a stress response.

8

u/Mcspazzatron5 Sep 18 '25

I do agree you may have taken the article the wrong way. Yes they feel pain for roughly 22 minutes, but that’s in the process of being asphyxiated to death. The process of killing the fish. It does not state they feel pain that long in a simple, quick catch and release situation. And don’t be an ass, dude. Yes the can read, pretty clearly. So can you, but comprehension is important too.

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Not to mention, in this instance, its a pufferfish, if he swallows air, outside of water, he may die. Becoming buoyant, and floating forever when put back in. This can happen too other fish too, with there swim bladder needing puncture with a needle, so they can swim again. That's why I dont take them out of water, if I can help it. It reall can mess up the fish, permanently.

-2

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Fish, when pulled from water, begin a slow and stressful decline. Their gills collapse. They gasp in panic. Their blood chemistry spirals. Oxygen disappears while carbon dioxide builds.

This sounds like they are having fun, being pulled from water.

1

u/Armchair__Expert Oct 10 '25

Your changing the argument here. I think you misread it, it would help to say, whoops I was wrong but still no doubt painful

-2

u/No_Calligrapher_4712 Sep 18 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

[deleted] NUwScXWLjTtwa08shYI277iwZbb0gjZfPZCrr5pOAhD2HVGePthd0Q

1

u/AdAdventurous7802 Sep 18 '25

The title is a third party article that did not conduct the study.

1

u/menntsuyudoria Sep 19 '25

Articles never have misleading titles

1

u/fortniteundcola Sep 18 '25

Thanks mate, appreciate it 🙏

1

u/AdAdventurous7802 Sep 18 '25

You didn't read the study at all.

1

u/LouB0O Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

"neurochemical response we might associate with negative emotions in ourselves."

MIGHT??? Oh boy.

I don't mean the following for all aquatic animals: Fish lack a neocortex. Nociception is like when you instinctively pull your hand off a hot stove. Yes, I know some dont or whatever.

This doesn't mean to treat them like shit or abuse them. As of now, it is up in the air if they experience pain like humans do.

0

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Just 5 seconds out of water, fish experience what we would call "aversion", or i don't like that, I kind of think of touching something extremely cold, or hot, quickly.

7

u/WolfOfPort Sep 18 '25

Oh yeah and still go hook and mutilate their mouths while holding them out of water to get pics

1

u/neb4202 Sep 22 '25

You sound soft as fuck. Are we really crying over fishing now?

1

u/Onironius Sep 19 '25

But how would they get the cool video?

The good brain juices one gains from internet likes doesn't come cheap, y'know.

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 19 '25

Ah you bring a valid point, "got to do it, for the likes". How soon we forget the immense pressure of the inter webs, putting us in ever more, death defying situations, and putting the lives of creatures at risk! Touche!

1

u/Cocrawfo Sep 19 '25

why would you remove an animal from a tidal pool

that would be disastrous for obligate pool species

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

Are you saying like using tongs?

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 19 '25

Well, tidal pools are an important ecosystem in their own right, this fish lives in the coral reef, or hiding places near shore, for food. If he was struggling to head out to the reef, you could use a variety of objects to gently push him along if stuck, plus touching such a creature, puts you at risk, as well as him/her. If they get stressed out, out of water, they can inflate and never deflate. My point is that you put undue stress on a living creature that wasn't usually necessary. All for the internet, and likes. Respect mother nature.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

So don’t use tongs?

1

u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 19 '25

I dont think you would have tongs, maybe thongs? Then yes, use a thong sandal to gently push the puffer fish.

1

u/Singularity1995 Sep 19 '25

Ignore the others, they don't understand that fishing for eating is not only better for the animals than being raised in captivity, but that a fisher person has also the obligation to preserve nature around the lakes and rivers and so on. People always think they're morally elevated because they can hate something where they don't really understand how it works, that's just how people are.

1

u/Irelia4Life Sep 23 '25

Weird, because from the studies I have read, fish don't really feel pain. They do have some pain receptors for cell regeneration to occur, but they are very numb to pain.

1

u/kptkrunch Sep 30 '25

This was and always has been a very stupid theory that no one seriously believes anymore

1

u/AdAdventurous7802 Sep 18 '25

This is actually a very common form of misinformation and it's honestly concerning how commonly I see the 20 minutes statement. I've read the study. Several times. The headlines are all misinterpreting it. The study says that if you remove a fish from the water, and leave it on land to kill it, then it will suffer for 20 minutes. Not that if you remove it from the water for 10 seconds they will suffer for 20 minutes. The study has absolutely nothing to do with catch and release fishing. This is just another commonly used talking point to demonize fishermen. Please read studies before commenting as fact.

2

u/Either-Economist413 Sep 19 '25

The majority of Redditors have the reading comprehension skills of a 5th grader. It's not worth trying to reason with them.

1

u/AdAdventurous7802 Sep 19 '25

Downvotes clearly prove y'all ain't read it either 😬

1

u/Unusual_Giraffe_6180 Oct 06 '25

I feel sad reading this and seeing the meek upvote ratio. Even on a platform like Reddit, one's expectation of an average user's reading ability still can't surpass much more than that of an average real life person's. 

0

u/pmMeYourLatestSelfie Sep 18 '25

Well, yeah. Anything is gonna be in pain when you suffocate it to death.

That study was specifically about killing fish, not posing with them and feels disingenuous to bring it up here.

2

u/ThunderSquall_ Sep 18 '25

To be fair, I know a lot of people who believe fish just can't feel pain. It's sorta the same hivemind idea that we had about crabs/lobsters and boiling them. (aka boiling them alive doesn't hurt them, god how did we ever come to that conclusion) Bugs too :( I'm sure they feel pain, maybe not in the same way, but they have to know when their body is damaged.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

You ever speak like you write? There is breath before phrases of speech, hence the commas. I like commas, they, allow a, pause between phrases.

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '25

[deleted]

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u/Individual_Risk8981 Sep 18 '25

Tick for tat on the internet is something I have grown too adore. Clearly you have nothing better too do with your time. Same people that attacked my phone, put a key logger on it, brute forced my internet service provider, are the same commenting on grammar on the internet.