Editorial: Zebrafish Cognition and Behavior

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction Understanding animal cognition has evolved from using simple visual and acoustic stimuli to complex objects and videos, revealing sophisticated mental processes across various species. While the cognitive abilities of fish were historically debated and often dismissed as simple stimulus-response reflexes due to their smaller brains , recent neurobiological research demonstrates that fish possess genetic, neuronal, and physiological mechanisms similar to mammals. This includes homologous brain regions for emotional regulation and memory, as well as complex behaviors such as tool use, spatial learning, counting, and long-term memory. The Zebrafish as a Model Organism Among fish, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a premier vertebrate model for biomedical and translational neuroscience research. Since George Streisinger successfully cloned the first homozygous diploid zebrafish in the 1970s, the species has offered distinct advantages:

* Embryos develop rapidly, hatching just 3 days post-fertilization. * Transparent embryos allow for the direct visualization of anatomical changes during development. * A partially sequenced genome reveals high genetic similarities to other vertebrates, including humans.

Today, an estimated 8 million zebrafish are used annually in over 600 laboratories worldwide.

Overview of the Research Topic The Research Topic "Zebrafish Cognition and Behavior" featured in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience compiles a diverse body of work investigating cognitive functions from molecular mechanisms to behavior, and from health to pathology. The sampled studies explore:

* Environmental and embryonic alcohol impacts on dynamic shoaling behaviors. * Behavioral, anxiety-like, and oxidative consequences of social and restraint stress. * Memory impairment and altered cortisol levels caused by environmental toxicants like pyriproxyfen. * Quantity estimation and decision-making in fish. * Correlations between personality and cognitive traits. * Theories surrounding elemental versus configural learning and memory.

Ultimately, this collection highlights how the zebrafish combines the complexity of a vertebrate brain with the practical advantages of an invertebrate, making it a powerful model for decoding the mechanisms of learning, memory, and cognitive decay.