Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Is killing fish with iced water really humane?

+1
−0

Someone told me that one can kill a fish by putting it in iced water. He stated that it'll kill the animal extremely fast and without any pain.

I've my doubts... Can anyone explain why this should work? Or is it nonsense?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

3 answers

You are accessing this answer with a direct link, so it's being shown above all other answers regardless of its score. You can return to the normal view.

+0
−0

You can kill tropical fish by freezing them, or even just letting them cool down. From the outdoors perspective, most game and eatable fish are not tropical. There is a post on a sister site Fish “coming back to life” after being frozen and there are many google finds about frozen fish coming back to life. From personal experience I recall my grandfather putting a fresh salmon in the freezer and when days later we put it in the sink to defrost, it started flopping around still alive.

In short, putting most fish in cold water or freezing them is not going to reliably kill them. Some die, some don't. If it is humane remains questionable, not sure there is enough evidence to support a conclusion on the fish's experience of being frozen. Many game fish (and pond goldfish) are frozen during winter as part of the natural life cycle.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

+1
−0

Ice water will not kill any fish quickly. Some fish even live in ice or icy water. A tropical fish may go into shock, but it won't die right for a long time. I think people may believe the fish is dead because the body has stiffened, but that's just a function of the cold and doesn't indicate a dead fish.

The fastest way to kill a fish would really be to behead it, but that assumes you are cleaning it immediately, but it can also make filleting a little more difficult. An alternative is to pour distilled grain alcohol over the fish's gills. That will also kill it quickly as well. The best way my opinion is to cut the gills out at the bottom of the gill covers. This bleeds the fish out, helping it to die and also has the benefit of improving the fish for eating.

Because they are cold blooded a fish will live a long time, even if it can't be resuscitated. So all you can do is the best you can. Place a folded wet towel over the fish's head so it's in the darkness and it will calm down significantly. Anecdotally, it may help the fish as much as it helps you.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/10088. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+0
−0

It is absolutely not humane - in fact it is by FAR one of the most CRUEL methods to euthanize a fish. Regardless of them being tropical or not, before they are sufficiently cold enough to die, their blood crystallizes and they basically end up with ice shards shooting through them. Ouch. This is a very common question on aquarium forums and message boards though.

A better method to euthanize a pet fish is to overdose it with clove oil in a bowl of its tank water (clove oil is ordinarily an anesthetic is smaller quantities).

A better way to kill a fish you want to consume (or pet fish if you have the knife and fortitude to do it) is to simply chop its head off in one blow. Or to sever the spinal column (I think that would do it).

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/10093. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »