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Comment
. 2025 May 13;122(19):e2506018122.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2506018122. Epub 2025 May 5.

Eat, flee, freeze: Division of labor in the larval zebrafish visuomotor system

Qing Wang  1 , Herwig Baier  1
Affiliations
Comment

Eat, flee, freeze: Division of labor in the larval zebrafish visuomotor system

Qing Wang et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Schematic illustrating the three types of visual stimuli and the corresponding visually evoked behaviors explored by Zhao and Tong et al. “Prey” was simulated with a small, horizontally moving UV spot, which elicited hunting behavior characterized by eye convergence and J-shaped swim bouts. A larger horizontally moving spot (“sweep”) approximating a passing threat evoked freezing behavior characterized by immobility and bradycardia. Finally, a rapidly expanding “loom” stimulus imitating an approaching predator elicited large-amplitude escape swims. “Sensory neurons” (light-colored stars) responding robustly to visual stimuli were broadly tuned due to the substantial overlap in neurons that responded to both prey (light blue) and sweep stimuli (light orange). Behavior-correlated “sensorimotor (SM) neurons” (dark-colored stars) were highly specific to each evoked behavior. SM neurons corresponding to each behavior were spatially segregated in the brain and likely received visual inputs from their sensory neuron counterparts, except for the escape SM neurons. Escape SM neurons may not be connected to loom-sensitive sensory neurons, instead receiving inputs from other pathways in the brain. Illustration by Julia Kuhl and Herwig Baier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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