Comparison of chemical treatments to ablate the lateral line system in two freshwater fishes, bumblebee goby Brachygobius doriae and silver hatchetfish Gasteropelecus sp.

Chemically ablating the lateral line system is a useful tool to temporarily and non-invasively inactivate this sensory system, so that the role of this sensory system can be revealed in behaviors relying on flow sensing. Here we determined species-specific lateral line ablation treatments for two freshwater fishes, bumblebee gobies (30 µM gentamycin for 24 hours) and silver hatchetfish (200 µM neomycin for 10 hours in Ca ²⁺ free water), for future behavioral experiments. We recommend that investigators fully vet lateral line ablation treatments prior to behavioral experiments, especially for non-model species.