Measures of anxiety in zebrafish (Danio rerio): dissociation of black/white preference and novel tank test

The effects of wall color stimuli on diving, and the effects of depth stimuli on scototaxis, were assessed in zebrafish. Three groups of fish were confined to a black, a white, or a transparent tank, and tested for depth preference. Two groups of fish were confined to a deep or a shallow tank, and t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-05, Vol.7 (5), p.e36931-e36931
Main Authors: Blaser, Rachel E, Rosemberg, Denis B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol
Animals
Anxieties
Anxiety
Anxiety - physiopathology
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biology
Brain research
Color
Danio
Danio rerio
Dissociation
Diving
Diving - physiology
Fish
Light
Medical screening
Motor Activity - physiology
Neurochemistry
Photic Stimulation - methods
Physiology
Preferences
Scototaxis
Stimuli
Thigmotaxis
Zebrafish
Zebrafish - physiology
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Summary:The effects of wall color stimuli on diving, and the effects of depth stimuli on scototaxis, were assessed in zebrafish. Three groups of fish were confined to a black, a white, or a transparent tank, and tested for depth preference. Two groups of fish were confined to a deep or a shallow tank, and tested for black-white preference. As predicted, fish preferred the deep half of a split-tank over the shallow half, and preferred the black half of a black/white tank over the white half. Results indicated that the tank wall color significantly affected depth preference, with the transparent tank producing the strongest depth preference and the black tank producing the weakest preference. Tank depth, however, did not significantly affect color preference. Additionally, wall color significantly affected shuttling and immobility, while depth significantly affected shuttling and thigmotaxis. These results are consistent with previous indications that the diving response and scototaxis may reflect dissociable mechanisms of behavior. We conclude that the two tests are complementary rather than interchangeable, and that further research on the motivational systems underlying behavior in each of the two tests is needed.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0036931