Researchers demonstrated the relationship between improvements in zebrafish’s hunting skills and the development of sensory coding in a part of the brain which responds to visual stimuli.

When zebrafish are learning to hunt fast-moving prey, it is a highly dynamic period in their development.

The researchers demonstrated the relationship between improvements in zebrafish’s hunting skills and the development of sensory coding in a part of the brain which responds to visual stimuli.

How refinements in neural circuitry lead to changes in behaviour was still largely a mystery, which Professor Geoff Goodhill from the Queensland Brain Institute and the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and his postdoc Dr Lilach Avitan were keen to solve.

«Neural coding is the study of how neurons represent information — during early development the brain must build neural codes appropriate for survival,» Professor Goodhill said.

«In mammals, knowledge about how neural circuits develop is expanding rapidly, however, little is known about what happens in newborn animals — the impact of early developmental changes in neural coding on behaviour remains largely unknown.»

Researchers can gain insights into the link between neural circuits and behaviour by studying zebrafish larvae, which display sophisticated natural behaviours from only a few days after fertilisation.

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