Thyroid Hormone Stimulates the Onset of Adult Feeding Kinematics in Zebrafish

The physical demands for swimming and feeding change dramatically over the course of development for many aquatic animals. Indeed, in teleosts, the transition from larva to adult involves major shifts in both trophic morphology and feeding behavior. A spike in thyroid hormone (TH) coordinates many developmental processes that occur during this adult transition in numerous vertebrate species. Using mutant and transgenic zebrafish, we tested the hypothesis that TH is essential for the transition from larval to adult feeding kinematic profiles. We found that every measured kinematic variable that distinguished larvae from adults also differentiated hypothyroid from wild-type (WT) euthyroid adults, suggesting that TH is indeed necessary for the onset of mature feeding behaviors. In contrast, feeding kinematics in hyperthyroid adults were extremely similar to those measured in euthyroid adults. Altered TH signaling underlies pedomorphosis in some amphibian species, and Danionella is a pedomorphic danionin genus. We therefore tested whether feeding kinematics of adult Danionella would more closely match larval zebrafish (and hypothyroid adults) than WT adult zebrafish. We found Danionella feeding kinematics resemble those of larval (and hypothyroid) zebrafish in multiple respects. Overall, we conclude that TH is essential in stimulating the onset of adult feeding kinematics in zebrafish, and that some of the underlying developmental pathways may have been lost in Danionella.