Natural History of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) in India

Abstract

The Zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a well-known vertebrate model species widely used in research associated with biomedical areas and comparative and evolutionary biology. Interestingly, despite the importance of this species, little is known about the natural history, habitats, and native distribution. In our study of the species, we collected individuals from twenty-one wild populations from within the species' natural distribution, ranging from streams/rivers of the Western Ghats of Peninsular India to those of the Western and North-Eastern Himalayas. Habitat types are identified from various geographic locations. Danio rerio is largely confined to and most frequently associated with habitats of low flow and with a sandy substrate in secondary and tertiary channels connected with the main channel of a stream/river, or habitats adjacent to wetlands and paddy fields. These connections can be natural channels or man-made irrigation canals, beels, or culture ponds. Among the 21 populations, individuals from two populations (one from Orissa and another from Arunachal Pradesh) were much larger in size (total length) when compared to other populations. The general habitats of Danio rerio vary from small to large mountainous and lowland streams/rivers, wetlands, and paddy fields.

Zebrafish as an emerging model for studying complex brain disorders

“…South-East Asia (typically includes streams and rivers, silt-bottomed well-vegetated pools and rice paddies adjacent to streams shown in Figure 1b), see 132, 133 for details.…”

Functional and Genetic Analysis of Choroid Plexus Development in Zebrafish

“…Originating from streams and rivers in India (Arunachalam et al, 2013), zebrafish began to be used for scientific research in the 1960s when George Streisinger used them to study recessive mutations in genes responsible for vertebrate nervous system development (Grunwald and Eisen, 2002). Zebrafish possess multiple characteristics that made them an attractive model for these early developmental and genetic studies.…”

Danio rerio (Actinopterygii: Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae): A new record from Andaman Islands, India

“…Recently the distributional record of D. rerio from peninsular India has been reported (Whiteley et al 2011), and the natural history of various populations from peninsular India, northern part, eastern and north-eastern parts of India were studied (Arunachalam et al 2013). Hence the distributional records are from the Cauvery River basin, the Krishna River basin, and the Sharavati River basin from peninsular India, tributaries of the Ganges River basin, the Mahanadi River basin and tributaries of the Brahmaputra River basin.…”