| Now properly classified, this tiny, translucent fish could help unlock our brains’ secrets | |
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For years, brain researchers didn't realize they were studying a fish previously unnamed by the scientific community.
From Texas Standard:
The tiny, translucent fish, Danionella cerebrum, wasn't so much discovered recently as it was – finally – correctly classified by scientists. For years, researchers have used it to study the brain, but those researchers weren't fish experts, and they didn’t realize they were working with a species previously unnamed by science. |
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Kevin Conway is an associate professor and ichthyologist at Texas A&M University. He tells Texas Standard that neurophysiologists use Danionella for brain research because of its unique characteristics: it has a complex nervous system for its size and no skull, which gives them easy access to brain tissue. Listen to the interview with Conway above or read the transcript below to learn more about why properly classifying this fish species is crucial for their research. |
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