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 | |
| |
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.