@article{a49fb84b8a924ac284d281c93290019b,
title = "Larval Zebrafish Exhibit Collective Circulation in Confined Spaces",
abstract = "Collective behavior may be elicited or can spontaneously emerge by a combination of interactions with the physical environment and conspecifics moving within that environment. To investigate the relative contributions of these factors in a small millimeter-scale swimming organism, we observed larval zebrafish, interacting at varying densities under circular confinement. If left undisturbed, larval zebrafish swim intermittently in a burst and coast manner and are socially independent at this developmental stage, before shoaling behavioral onset. Our aim was to explore the behavior these larvae as they swim together inside circular confinements. We report here our analysis of a new observation for this well-studied species: in circular confinement and at sufficiently high densities, the larvae collectively circle rapidly alongside the boundary. This is a new physical example of self-organization of mesoscale living active matter driven by boundaries and environment geometry. We believe this is a step forward toward using a prominent biological model system in a new interdisciplinary context to advance knowledge of the physics of social interactions.",
keywords = "confined collective motion, living active matter, social interaction, swimmers, zebrafish",
author = "Haider Zaki and Enkeleida Lushi and Severi, {Kristen E.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Dr. Simon Garnier and the Swarm lab for insightful suggestions and mentorship throughout the project, as well as Rafael Asfour from the Swarm lab for assistance implementing trackR. Mahathi Mohan Gowda built the behavior rig setup utilized for the experiments, along with members of the Severi lab and Dr. Christoph Gebhardt assisted in designing and building the behavior rig and gave input on analysis. We thank all members of the Severi lab past and present for excellent animal care and useful discussions throughout the project. Hassan Elsaid contributed through the NJIT Research @Home program. KS acknowledges support from NJIT startup funds. EL acknowledges support from the Simons Foundation as well as NJIT startup and seed funds. Funding Information: We thank Dr. Simon Garnier and the Swarm lab for insightful suggestions and mentorship throughout the project, as well as Rafael Asfour from the Swarm lab for assistance implementing trackR. Mahathi Mohan Gowda built the behavior rig setup utilized for the experiments, along with members of the Severi lab and Dr. Christoph Gebhardt assisted in designing and building the behavior rig and gave input on analysis. We thank all members of the Severi lab past and present for excellent animal care and useful discussions throughout the project. Hassan Elsaid contributed through the NJIT Research @Home program. KS acknowledges support from NJIT startup funds. EL Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright {\textcopyright} 2021 Zaki, Lushi and Severi.",
year = "2021",
month = sep,
day = "24",
doi = "10.3389/fphy.2021.678600",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "9",
journal = "Frontiers in Physics",
issn = "2296-424X",
publisher = "Frontiers Media S. A.",
}