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Assessing Social Behavior Phenotypes in Adult Zebrafish: Shoaling, Social Preference, and Mirror Biting Tests

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Zebrafish Protocols for Neurobehavioral Research

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 66))

Abstract

Zebrafish are a popular model organism in neuroscience research, recently emerging as an excellent species to study complex social phenotypes. For example, zebrafish actively form shoals, which can be used to quantify their shoaling behaviors. Zebrafish also display strong social preference when placed in a tank with conspecific fish, a trait that can easily be quantified in the two-compartment preference test. The mirror biting test, based on mirror image stimulation, is another well-established method for studying zebrafish boldness and sociability. This chapter will describe three simple and efficient paradigms—shoaling, social preference, and mirror biting tests—for quantifying social behaviors in adult zebrafish. Reflecting different aspects of zebrafish social phenotypes, these models can be used individually or within a test battery.

Mimi Pham and Jolia Raymond contributed equally to this manuscript.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by Tulane University Intramural funds, Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium (ZNRC), LA Board of Regents P-Fund, and NIDA SOAR R03 (DA030900-02) grant to AVK. The authors thank Matthew Singer (University of Idaho) for his help with this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Program, Tulane University Medical School, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Mimi Pham, Jolia Raymond, Jonathan Hester, Evan Kyzar, Siddharth Gaikwad, Indya Bruce, Caroline Fryar, Simon Chanin, Joseph Enriquez, Sidarth Bagawandoss, Ivan Zapolsky & Jeremy Green

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Adam Michael Stewart

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

    Barrie D. Robison

  4. Neuroscience Program, Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Allan V. Kalueff

Authors
  1. Mimi Pham
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  2. Jolia Raymond
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  3. Jonathan Hester
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  13. Adam Michael Stewart
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  15. Allan V. Kalueff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Allan V. Kalueff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Program, Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University, Tulane Ave. 1430, New Orleans, 70112, Louisiana, USA

    Allan V. Kalueff

  2. , Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University, Tulane Avenue 1430, New Orleans, 70112, Louisiana, USA

    Adam Michael Stewart

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Pham, M. et al. (2012). Assessing Social Behavior Phenotypes in Adult Zebrafish: Shoaling, Social Preference, and Mirror Biting Tests. In: Kalueff, A., Stewart, A. (eds) Zebrafish Protocols for Neurobehavioral Research. Neuromethods, vol 66. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-597-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-597-8_17

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-596-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-597-8

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