Dynamics of Information Exchange in Zebrafish: The Role of U-Turns in Visual Communication and Behavior Modulation

TL;DR

This study investigates how zebrafish communicate visually through U-turns during interactions, revealing that U-turns are crucial signals for information exchange and behavior regulation, especially as their separation distance varies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel simulation model based on U-turns that reproduces observed zebrafish trajectory behaviors and elucidates the role of U-turns in visual communication.

Findings

U-turns are key visual signals in zebrafish interactions.

The model accurately reproduces trajectory features based on U-turn rules.

U-turns influence the leader-follower relation at different distances.

Abstract

Motions of visually coupled zebrafish pairs are studied to understand the effects of information exchange on their behavior as a function of their minimal separation ($d$). We find that when $d$ is small, the pair can display a leader-follower relation (LFR) with trajectories of almost synchronized form. However, with larger $d$, although the same LFR is still maintained, the originally similar trajectories turn into different forms. Detailed analysis of their motion trajectories suggests that the pair might be using U-turns (UTs) to exchange information and to maintain a LFR at the same time. A simulation model based on UTs with inferred and proposed rules is able to reproduce prominent features of observed trajectories; indicating that the transition of trajectories can be understood as the result of a change in information exchange between the fish as $d$ increases. Our finding that UTs as important visual signals is consistent with the fact that UTs can induce a large amount of firings in retinas of observing fish.