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Zebrafish Types

Zebrafish, Danio rerio, are a species of freshwater, tropical fish within the minnow family (i.e. Cyprinidae). Image showing the taxonomy of zebrafish. A red box reads "kingdom" with an arrow pointing to Animalia. An orange box reads "phylum" with an arrow pointing to Chordata. A yellow box reads "class" with an arrow pointing to Actinopterygii. A green box with the word "order" inside has an arrow pointing to Cypriniformes. A blue box with the word "family" inside has an arrow pointing to Cyprinidae. A purple box has the word "genus" inside it with an arrow pointing to Danio. A pink box with the word "species" inside it has an arrow pointing to Rerio.

There are many kinds of wild type (WT) zebrafish. The ZAC’s WT fish have been purchased from ZIRC, SARL, and Boston Children’s Hospital. We maintain AB and TL zebrafish lines.

AB

  • The AB line is derived from two lines, A and B, purchased by Streisinger at different times from a pet shop in Albany, Oregon.
  • striped
  • ZIRC: AB Lines

TL

  • Tupfel long fin
  • spotted
  • Homozygous for leot1 and lofdt2. leot1 is a recessive mutation causing spotting in adult fish, also known as tup. lofdt2 is a dominant homozygous viable mutation causing long fins.
  • This is not the line used in the Sanger zebrafish sequencing project.
  • ZIRC: TL Lines
Stripes indicate the AB Zebrafish line. Courtesy of Jennifer Rumbach.
Click image to see AB detail.
Spots indicate the TL Zebrafish line. Courtesy of Jennifer Rumbach.
Click image to see TL detail.