Stephen Scannell, “Laboratory Fish Behavioral Assessment for Environmental Toxicology”
Mentor: Michael Carvan, Freshwater Sciences
Poster #178

The objective of this research is to design, build, and evaluate apparatuses for assessing behavioral endpoints in zebrafish and African turquoise killifish (ATK). There are many apparatuses designed for zebrafish behavior; however, few behavioral apparatuses have been designed for ATK. An extensive literature review provides the basis of our designs which have been designed for use with both species and scaled accordingly to make direct comparisons between species. Our interests are in locomotion, socialization, aggression, anxiety (diving responses, novel open field exploration), learning and memory (classical conditioning and operant conditioning experiments using image, spatial, or auditory signal recognition and possibly a mild aversive stimulus), As such, the focus for fall 2023 and spring 2024 is a reimagined ‘Y-maze’ design featuring 105 possible test variations. Our hexagonal Y-maze is equipped with 15 automated doors, 6 ‘hides’ with manual flip tops for fish retrieval, and a system drain for expedited sanitation and testing. Automation of the doors was accomplished through a drive module directly above the maze where 15 separate motors were implemented for raising and lowering each door respectively; Infrared cameras, temperature and light sensors, and maze lighting were also integrated within the control module for a compact and simplistic design. The maze and module sit in a “dark box” constructed with light canceling and sound damping material to minimize environmental confounders. This project provides a more comprehensive assessment as we study the effects of environmental chemical exposure on neurobehavior.