Key facts

The use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model organism? began in the 1960s.

The zebrafish is a tropical fish native to southeast Asia.

The zebrafish is about 2.5 cm to 4 cm long.

In its larval stages it is transparent and as it matures to an adult it develops stripes that run along the length of the body and look blue in colour.

Males are slender and torpedo-shaped usually with a pink or yellow tinge.

Females tend to be less pink than the males and are fatter due to the eggs they carry.

Zebrafish have already been used to help unlock a number of the biological processes behind muscular dystrophy?, and are an important model for understanding the mechanisms of development and diseases such as cancer?.

The complete genome? sequence of the zebrafish was published in 2013.