Visual learning and its underlying neural substrate in two species of teleost fish (Zebrafish and Ambon damselfish)

Abstract

The visual sense is one of the main sources of information for many animals. In particular, many species of fish rely on vision for survival. Whether a fish needs to distinguish between possible predators, sources of food, a possible mate or competitors for their territory, learning to discriminate between visual stimuli is fundamental part of their life. Recently, studies have shown that multiple species of fish are able to solve visual discrimination tasks that were thought to be too complex for these organisms (Brown et al., 2011). Furthermore, neuroanatomical studies have also found that although the layout of the central nervous system of teleost fish is different, multiple structures seem to have homologues in mammalian brains (Mueller et al., 2011). Together, these findings have reinforced the role of fish as a model system to study the neuronal substrates of simple and complex behaviours (Gerlai, 2014).