Social Attraction And Affiliation

The nerve cells identified by the researchers in this region of the thalamus connect the visual system of the zebrafish with other brain regions that are active during social behavior.

The importance of the newly identified neurons was confirmed when the researchers specifically blocked the function of these cells. Zebrafish larvae lost their interest in conspecifics as well as moving dots and hardly followed them around anymore.

“The neurons we discovered thus regulate social approach and affiliation in zebrafish,” says Johannes Kappel, graduate student and lead author of the study.