Atlas of Zebrafish Development

THE NEED FOR AN ATLAS OF ZEBRAFISH DEVELOPMENT Over the past two decades zebrafish have been established as a genetically tractable model system to investigate many different aspects of vertebrate development. The strengths of this model system stem from a unique combination of embryological manipulability and the optical clarity of the early embryo and larvae, which allows, by simple optical inspection, the visualization of cell biological events within an in vivo context. This is further enhanced by the ability to apply invertebrate-style forward genetics to questions of vertebrate development. While the credentials of the system as a developmental model have long been recognized, it is the application of the zebrafish to a different aspect of biology that has generated a surge in popularity and greatly increased zebrafish laboratory use. Many investigators have now turned to directly modeling human disease states in zebrafish, realizing that many of the same strengths that made it a compelling model for the study of development also allow it to complement existing mammalian disease models (Lieschke and Currie 2007).