Danionella cerebrum is a cyprinid fish species reported in 2021 from turbid low altitude streams on the southern and eastern slopes of the Bago Yoma mountain range in Myanmar as well as from an irrigation canal southwest of the town of Hmawbi in Yangon Division.[1] It was previously erroneously identified as Danionella translucida due to the close resemblance and similar geographical distribution of the two species.[1][2][3] Adult fish of the species measure only 10–13.5 mm in size and have a brain volume of just 0.6 mm3 which is thus far the smallest known adult vertebrate brain.[1][3][4] Danionella cerebrum larvae have been shown to exhibit similarities but also differences in their locomotor activity compared to the zebrafish (Danio rerio) to which they are evolutionary closely related.[2][5]

Danionella cerebrum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Genus: Danionella
Species:
D. cerebrum
Binomial name
Danionella cerebrum

Due to its miniature size, rich behavioural repertoire, and optical translucency that persists into adulthood, Danionella cerebrum holds great promise for non-invasive whole-brain in vivo imaging analyses with single cell resolution in an adult vertebrate and is beginning to emerge as a novel important model system in current neuroscience research.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The species makes the loudest sound for its size of any fish, exceeding 140 decibels, using muscles to tension a cartilage; this is released to strike the swim bladder. The sound appears to be used for intraspecific communication, as the loudest few males effectively suppress the sound production of other males.[8][9]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Britz, Ralf; Conway, Kevin W.; Rüber, Lukas (2021-09-23). "The emerging vertebrate model species for neurophysiological studies is Danionella cerebrum, new species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 18942. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1118942B. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97600-0. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8460714. PMID 34556691.
  2. ^ a b c Rajan, Gokul; Lafaye, Julie; Faini, Giulia; Carbo-Tano, Martin; Duroure, Karine; Tanese, Dimitrii; Panier, Thomas; Candelier, Raphaël; Henninger, Jörg; Britz, Ralf; Judkewitz, Benjamin (2022-03-29). "Evolutionary divergence of locomotion in two related vertebrate species". Cell Reports. 38 (13): 110585. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110585. ISSN 2211-1247. PMID 35354040. S2CID 247810504.
  3. ^ a b c Schulze, Lisanne; Henninger, Jörg; Kadobianskyi, Mykola; Chaigne, Thomas; Faustino, Ana Isabel; Hakiy, Nahid; Albadri, Shahad; Schuelke, Markus; Maler, Leonard; Del Bene, Filippo; Judkewitz, Benjamin (November 2018). "Transparent Danionella translucida as a genetically tractable vertebrate brain model". Nature Methods. 15 (11): 977–983. doi:10.1038/s41592-018-0144-6. ISSN 1548-7105. PMID 30323353. S2CID 53085675.
  4. ^ a b Rajan, Gokul; Duroure, Karine; Del Bene, Filippo (2022), "Danionella translucida, a tankful of new opportunities", Laboratory Fish in Biomedical Research, Elsevier, pp. 409–418, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-821099-4.00017-1, ISBN 978-0-12-821099-4, S2CID 239639509, retrieved 2022-04-14
  5. ^ a b Lindemann, Nina; Kalix, Leon; Possiel, Jasmin; Stasch, Richard; Kusian, Tamia; Köster, Reinhard Wolfgang; von Trotha, Jakob William (2022). "A comparative analysis of Danionella cerebrum and zebrafish (Danio rerio) larval locomotor activity in a light-dark test". Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 16: 885775. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.885775. ISSN 1662-5153. PMC 9385977. PMID 35990722.
  6. ^ Penalva, Ariadne; Bedke, Jacob; Cook, Elizabeth S. B.; Barrios, Joshua P.; Bertram, Erin P. L.; Douglass, Adam D. (2018-10-16). "Establishment of the miniature fish species Danionella translucida as a genetically and optically tractable neuroscience model". bioRxiv: 444026. doi:10.1101/444026. S2CID 91582837.
  7. ^ Kadobianskyi, Mykola; Schulze, Lisanne; Schuelke, Markus; Judkewitz, Benjamin (2019-08-26). "Hybrid genome assembly and annotation of Danionella translucida". Scientific Data. 6 (1): 156. Bibcode:2019NatSD...6..156K. doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0161-z. ISSN 2052-4463. PMC 6710283. PMID 31451709.
  8. ^ McGrath, Matt (27 February 2024). "Gills Aloud? Tiny fish found making very big noise". BBC News. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  9. ^ Cook, Verity A. N. O.; Groneberg, Antonia H.; Hoffmann, Maximilian; Kadobianskyi, Mykola; Veith, Johannes; Schulze, Lisanne; Henninger, Jörg; Britz, Ralf; Judkewitz, Benjamin (2024). "Ultrafast sound production mechanism in one of the smallest vertebrates". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 121 (10): e2314017121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2314017121. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 10927587.