Meeting Abstract

P1.24  Tuesday, Jan. 4  Lipids Affect the Behavior of Some Strains of Zebrafish: Geographic Origin Plays a Role PERTILLA, M.V.*; RUIZ, M.; MARTINS, E.P.; Tuskegee University; Indiana University; Indiana University mpertilla@yahoo.com

Dietary lipids play a vital role in animal physiology and behavior, often enhancing courtship and reproduction. Zebrafish are a biomedically-important model organism, originating from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. They reside both in heavily- vegetated, still water near the edges of shallow lakes and in the clear running water of rocky hillside streams, two habitats likely to differ in the availability of dietary lipids. Here, we asked whether lipids had an effect on reproductive measures and activity in zebrafish, and whether these effects varied between strains. We manipulated dietary lipids of male zebrafish from four recently established strains (two from clear-water stream populations and two from murky lake habitats) by adding sesame oil to the fish flakes fed to some fish but not others. After two weeks of manipulation, we conducted behavioral assays to measure reproduction (distance between treatment male and stimulus female) and activity levels. We found that higher lipid intake increased reproductive behavior and activity level of fish from murky, but not clear-water strains; we also found that murky water strains had higher 11KT levels than the clear water strains. This study suggests that lipid metabolism and behavioral response to lipid availability may be adapted to the habitat in which the animals evolved.