Veterinary medicine
In vertebrates, endogenous opioids are neuromodulators that moderate pain by interacting with opioid receptors. Opioids and opioid receptors occur naturally in crustaceans and, although at present no certain conclusion can be drawn, their presence indicates that lobsters may be able to experience pain. Opioids may mediate their pain in the same way as in vertebrates. Veterinary medicine uses, for actual or potential animal pain, the same analgesics and anesthetics as used in humans.