Visual object detection biases escape trajectories following acoustic startle in larval zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: In this study, we investigated whether the larval zebrafish is sensitive to the presence of obstacles in its environment. Zebrafish execute fast escape swims when in danger of predation. We posited that collisions with solid objects during escape would be maladaptive to the fish, and therefore, the direction of escape swims should be informed by the locations of barriers. To test this idea, we developed a closed-loop imaging rig outfitted with barriers of various qualities. We show that when larval zebrafish escape in response to a non-directional vibrational stimulus, they use visual scene information to avoid collisions with obstacles. Our study demonstrates that barrier avoidance rate corresponds to the absolute distance of obstacles, as distant barriers outside of collision range elici

SUBMITTER: Zwaka H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10028558 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature