r/todayilearned • u/Ok_Knee1216 • 15h ago

TIL Fish can get acupuncture

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-14-me-216-story.html
0 Upvotes

30% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

33

u/roboboobs 15h ago

I mean, anything can get acupuncture.

4

u/jsmith_92 14h ago

Except my pet rock

16

u/Sacred-Lambkin 14h ago

You can stick a needle into pretty much anything and call it healing, but you have to provide strong reproducible evidence of the results to call it medicine. :)

5

u/Mysterious-Action202 14h ago

People who preform it on other people do it and call it medical despite studies that show it offers no benefit beyond the placebo effect.

2

u/Laura-ly 14h ago

Yup. Sham acupuncture have a similar effect. Mostly it's about someone making a fuss over you which releases feel-good endorphins. It's similar to "laying on of hands" in evangelical churches or having bones and chicken feathers shaken over you in indigenous traditions. It's all about the ceremony.

11

u/LoneStarBandit19 15h ago

We just call that “Setting the hook” around here.

4

u/ImALlamaAgain 14h ago

I can also read a fish its horoscope.

3

u/AwwYeahVTECKickedIn 14h ago

This story really hooked me...

3

u/ermghoti 14h ago

It works just as well as acupuncture on humans. Which is to say, it doesn't work.

2

u/loftwyr 14h ago

They're often seen cuddling sea urchins for therapeutic reasons

1

u/simplejack31 14h ago

Yeah so can my testicles

1

u/Hoppie1064 14h ago

Today, I learned.

People are gullible.

Oh.

Wait.

I already knew that.

1

u/Analog0 14h ago

Captain Ahab has entered the chat.

1

u/thanksapun 14h ago

I know Albert Fish was fond of a particular kind of acupuncture

1

u/entrepenurious 13h ago

but do they seek it out?