AUTHOR=Groneberg Antonia H. , Herget Ulrich , Ryu Soojin , De Marco Rodrigo J. 

TITLE=Positive taxis and sustained responsiveness to water motions in larval zebrafish

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neural Circuits

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/fncir.2015.00009

DOI=10.3389/fncir.2015.00009

ISSN=1662-5110

ABSTRACT=<p>Larval zebrafish (<italic>Danio rerio</italic>) have become favored subjects for studying the neural bases of behavior. Here, we report a highly stereotyped response of zebrafish larvae to hydrodynamic stimuli. It involves positive taxis, motion damping and sustained responsiveness to flows derived from local, non-stressful water motions. The response depends on the lateral line and has a high sensitivity to stimulus frequency and strength, sensory background and rearing conditions—also encompassing increased threshold levels of response to parallel input. The results show that zebrafish larvae can use near-field detection to locate sources of minute water motions, and offer a unique handle for analyses of hydrodynamic sensing, sensory responsiveness and arousal with accurate control of stimulus properties.</p>