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With increasing interest in organogenesis, tissue maintenance and integrity, and the use of zebrafish as a model for human disease, researchers are studying processes that extend further into the larval period. Despite many years of use as a model system an anatomical reference for larval zebrafish does not exist. In order to provide such a resource we developed FishNet an online anatomical reference for zebrafish larval development. Using the technique of optical projection tomography (OPT) (described in Bryson-Richardson and Currie 2004) we have created three- dimensional (3D) models of larval zebrafish from 5mm to adulthood. Once a 3D model has been created it may be virtually sectioned in any plane or rendered to give a representation of the 3D organization of the sample. This allows a complete series of sections in multiple planes to be created from a single sample. Using this method we have created a database of zebrafish larval development. This database contains over 30,000 images of sections; over 1000 of these being annotated. The user may move through these images series on the website. In addition to the section images we also have 3D rendered images of the fish that may be manipulated on screen. This database will provide a comprehensive anatomical resource for researchers studying zebrafish in the larval period. In the future FishNet will be expanded to include expression patterns and developmental series for other fish species.
 
FishNet was intially developed through support from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Insitute
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References
 
Bryson-Richardson RJ, Currie PD.Optical projection tomography for spatio-temporal analysis in the zebrafish.
Methods Cell Biol. 2004;76:37-50
 
Bryson-Richardson RJ, Berger S, Schilling TF, Hall TE, Cole NJ, Gibson AJ, Sharpe J, Currie PD. FishNet: an online database of zebrafish anatomy.