Can clams feel pain when you shuck them?

Question

I was just wondering.

Answer 1

Neurophysiologists tell us that lobsters, like insects, do not process pain.

Neither insects nor lobsters have brains. For an organism to perceive pain it must have a complex nervous system.

most invertebrates — including lobsters, crabs, worms, snails, slugs and clams — probably don't have the capacity to feel pain.

Answer 2

It really depends on what you define as pain.  Clams, like other invertebrates, certainly can detect unpleasant sensations, which they will try to avoid.  True pain seems to be tied up with emotion--anxiety, distress, terror--so by that definition, clams don't qualify.  On the other hand, maybe we just aren't good at identifying terror in clams!