Swimming direction of the Glass Catfish, Kryptopterus bicirrhis, is responsive to magnetic stimulation

Throughout evolution, organisms have developed unique strategies to become more competitive in their environment. One unique adaptation is the ability to sense magnetic fields, i.e., magnetoreception. While animals like salmonids, pigeons, eels and sea turtles use magnetoreception to migrate over thousands of kilometers [1-10], non-migratory fish species have also shown evidence of magnetoreception [11, 12]. The freshwater fish, Kryptopterus bicirrhis is known to be sensitive to the Earth9s magnetic field [13-15]. Recently, we have discovered a gene (electromagnetic perceptive gene (EPG)) that is expressed in K. bicirrhis9s ampullary organ and is specifically activated in response to magnetic stimuli. This genetic-based magnetoreception has a great potential as a neuromodulation technology and as a valuable tool to study neural behavior from the molecular to network levels [15-17]. However, the mechanism by which magnetoreception manifests and functions is not well understood [18-24]. This work was designed to understand the natural behavior of K. bicirrhis in response to magnetic fields. We capitalized on new concepts of artificial intelligence as well as traditional video tracking algorithms to quantify how K. bicirrhis responds to magnetic stimulation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The results demonstrate that K. bicirrhis placed in a radial maze, consistently swim away from magnetic fields over 20 μT and show adaptability to changing magnetic field directions and locations. This work will be invaluable to further understand the mechanisms and possible cellular interactions of EPG once a knock-out EPG in K. bicirrhis is achieved.