The influence of resistivity on energetic trapped particle‐induced internal kink modes, dubbed ‘‘fishbones’’ in the literature, is explored. A general dispersion relation, which recovers the ideal theory in its appropriate limit, is derived and analyzed. An important implication of the theory for present generation fusion devices such as the Joint European Torus [PlasmaPhysicsandControlledNuclearFusionResearch(IAEA, London, 1984), Vol I, p.11] is that they will be stable to fishbone activity.