Assessing Social Behavior Phenotypes in Adult Zebrafish: Shoaling, Social Preference, and Mirror Biting Tests

Zebrafish are a popular model organism in neuroscience research, recently emerging as an excellent species to study complex social phenotypes. For example, zebrafish actively form shoals, which can be used to quantify their shoaling behaviors. Zebrafish also display strong social preference when placed in a tank with conspecific fish, a trait that can easily be quantified in the two-compartment preference test. The mirror biting test, based on mirror image stimulation, is another well-established method for studying zebrafish boldness and sociability. This chapter will describe three simple and efficient paradigms—shoaling, social preference, and mirror biting tests—for quantifying social behaviors in adult zebrafish. Reflecting different aspects of zebrafish social phenotypes, these models can be used individually or within a test battery.