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I have seen that, beforre boiling live lobsters, chefs usually sit it down and stroke the back of its neck. I have heard that this puts the lobster in a trance but my friend says it just paralyses it. It would be an unkind thing to do if it can fell the pain and is just paralysed but I imagine that, in a trance, the lobster doesn't feel anything.

Can somebody please provide a definite answer to the question: does stroking a lobster's neck paralyse it or put it in a trance?

William Pennanti
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    That might be a question for Biology (whether stroking a lobster's neck does anything), if you were more concerned with the ethical question then you could amend it to ask whether boiling an animal that can't feel pain is ethical, though it might still be too hypothetical to get a useful answer. – David S Jun 08 '20 at 11:12
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    You may enjoy David Foster Wallace's wonderful essay [Consider the Lobster](http://www.theessayexperiencefall2013.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2013/11/Consider-the-Lobster_david-foster-wallace.pdf) – Zanna Jun 08 '20 at 11:49

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Stroking a lobster's neck is not going to disable its pain receptors. I'm not an expert in lobster physiology, but I imagine it might be similar to when a cat is picked up by the scruff of its neck and stops moving. This will not stop the lobster from experiencing the pain of being boiled to death

Eleanor Sims
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