Female zebrafish (Danio rerio) demonstrate stronger preference for established shoals over newly-formed shoals in the three-tank open-swim preference test

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265703
• Publication Date: 2022-09-21T17:40:06Z
• Authors: Andrew J. Velkey; Caroline H. Koon; Isabel A. Danstrom; Katie M. Wiens
• Keywords: Shoal; Danio; Shoaling and schooling; Stimulus (psychology); Preference test

Zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) share a considerable amount of biological similarity with mammals, including identical or homologous gene expression pathways, neurotransmitters, hormones, and cellular receptors. also display complex social behaviors like shoaling schooling, making them an attractive model for investigating normal behavior as well exploring impaired function conditions such autism spectrum disorders. Newly-formed established shoals exhibit distinct patterns inter-member interactions that can convey the group’s stability. We used three-chamber open-swim preference test to determine whether individual zebrafish show shoal over newly-formed shoal. Results indicated both sexes maintained greater proximity arena zones nearest stimulus. In addition, we report novel application Shannon entropy discover sex differences in systematicity responses not revealed by unit-based measurements; male subjects spent more time between two than female subjects. This technique using versus be future studies testing transgenics pharmacological treatments mimic disorder other disorders affect interaction.