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Zebrafish pp 293-305 | Cite as

Quantifying Aggressive Behavior in Zebrafish

Protocol
First Online:
Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 1451)

Abstract

Aggression is a complex behavior that influences social relationships and can be seen as adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context and intensity of expression. A model organism suitable for genetic dissection of the underlying neural mechanisms of aggressive behavior is still needed. Zebrafish has already proven to be a powerful vertebrate model organism for the study of normal and pathological brain function. Despite the fact that zebrafish is a gregarious species that forms shoals, when allowed to interact in pairs, both males and females express aggressive behavior and establish dominance hierarchies. Here, we describe two protocols that can be used to quantify aggressive behavior in zebrafish, using two different paradigms: (1) staged fights between real opponents and (2) mirror-elicited fights. We also discuss the methodology for the behavior analysis, the expected results for both paradigms, and the advantages and disadvantages of each paradigm in face of the specific goals of the study.

Key words

Aggression Social dominance Behavior Ethogram Event recorder Zebrafish 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Nuno Marques Pereira for helpful discussions on the tagging procedure. The writing of this book chapter was supported by a grant from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, EXCL/BIA-ANM/0549/2012). MCT is supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from FCT (SFRH/BD/44848/2008).

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.ISPA – Instituto UniversitárioLisbonPortugal
  2. 2.Instituto Gulbenkian de CiênciaOeirasPortugal
  3. 3.Champalimaud Neuroscience ProgrammeChampalimaud Centre for the UnknownLisbonPortugal

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