Zebrafish

Danio rerio
An adult female zebrafish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Danionidae
Subfamily: Danioninae
Genus: Danio
Species:
D. rerio
Binomial name
Danio rerio
(F. Hamilton, 1822)
Synonyms
  • Cyprinus rerio Hamilton, 1822
  • Brachydanio rerio (Hamilton 1822)
  • Cyprinus chapalio Hamilton, 1822
  • Perilampus striatus McClelland, 1839
  • Danio lineatus Day, 1868
  • Brachydanio frankei Meinken, 1963
  • Danio horai Barman, 1983

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a species of danionin belonging to the genus Danio in the suborder Cyprinoidei. Native to South Asia, it is a popular, hardy aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (thus often mislabeled as a "tropical fish", even though they also inhabit subtropical and temperate waters).

The zebrafish is an important and widely used vertebrate model organism in scientific research, particularly developmental biology, but also gene function, oncology, teratology, and drug development, in particular pre-clinical development, due to its scalability from high numbers of offspring and ease of drug delivery through water into the gills. It is also notable for its regenerative abilities, and has been modified by researchers to produce many transgenic strains.