Fish, just like other animals, need to sleep. Richard Borowsky and Eric Duboue, biologists with New York University and co-authors of a new study that involved breeding blind Mexican cavefish with their sighted counterparts to determine the difference in their sleep patterns.
What did the scientists learn? Well, first of all, blind Mexican cavefish sleep much less than related species that live near the surface—something the biologists noticed over years of research. Because cavefish have adapted genetically to life in the deep and dark, they wondered if fish sleep habits were also genetic.
“Fish are really not so very different than humans,” said Borowsky.
To evaluate fish sleep patterns, Borowsky and Duboue first figured out how to tell when the fish were sleeping. Turns out sleeping fish stop moving, drop to the bottom of the tank and drop their tail. Once in that position for 60 seconds, the fish was asleep. The scientists also deprived the fish of sleep to verify that this altered state was indeed sleeping. After a night of gentle vibration of the tank for 10 seconds out of every minute all night long, the fish were much less active.
When they monitored the fish under simulated 12-hour day and night cycles, they found that cavefish slept much less than surface fish. Then—get this—they bred the cavefish with the surface fish. And their offspring slept like cavefish.
According to Borowsky, it’s likely the genes regulating sleep in fish are the same genes regulating sleep in humans. Their discovery may help identify genes and pathways involved in insomnia and other sleep disorders in humans.
Cool.
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