Zebrafish Larva Eye Distinguishes Between Prey and Predator

 


According to a new study from the Max Plan C K Institute for Medical Research, the eye of a zebrafish larva can already tell the difference between prey and predator. 


Green or red? Large or small? Are you moving quickly or slowly? Animals and humans both use their visual organs to categorize their surroundings. Most of the time, we make decisions very quickly and unconsciously about how to best respond to moving objects in our environment. It goes without saying that a crucial criterion is the size of a moving object. The quickness of the response suggests that important object properties are recognized by specialized neural circuits in the visual system. The brain's "fight" or "flight" signal is triggered if they are activated. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have now discovered how these circuits, which are likely essential for classifying objects by size, function. 




How does the brain determine which aspects of our complicated environment necessitate immediate action? In the animal kingdom, the question is: Is the moving object in my environment prey or a threat? A question that needs to be answered quickly in an emergency. Evidently, the visual system is able to identify objects in the constantly shifting distribution of light stimuli on the retina using straightforward criteria and, in the event that this is required, directly initiate a swift response. Using the zebrafish larva as a model system, it is possible to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of object classification


The larva's well-developed visual system enables it to avoid larger objects while catching smaller prey. Size plays a role in determining whether the larva approaches or avoids the object. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg with Johann Boll, man have shown that the fish's brain's neighboring, but distinct circuits are activated by both small and large stimuli, which cause swimming movements in different directions. Therefore, the eye's ganglion cells are where the behavior-related difference in size begins. 


There are many different kinds of ganglion cells in the retina of the eye that respond specifically to things like color, size, movement, or contrast, for example. However, very little is known about how these various messages are processed in the brain after passing through the optic nerve. These cells were now identified by the researchers in the tectum, a central part of the fish's brain. In the world of the zebrafish larva, these cells respond specifically to objects of sizes that correspond to small prey or large troublemakers.


This suggests that the eye's retina is where the size classification process begins, categorizing the object seen in the tectum as either "small enough to count as prey" or "sufficiently large to watch out for". According to Johann Boll, man of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, the fish larva then changes its behavior. Mammals have very similar structures in their brains that are crucial to the visual control of such targeted movements. This suggests that the fish larva's small brain's functions of detecting objects and controlling actions are resolved similarly 

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