Visual Prey Capture in Larval Zebrafish Is Controlled by Identified Reticulospinal Neurons Downstream of the Tectum

nMLF ablation does not impair the OKR. Comparison of OKR performance for trials in which either the left or right eye was stimulated with a drifting grating stimulus. The three larvae had received unilateral laser ablations of the nMLF, including the MeLr and MeLc neurons, and each eye was subsequently tested on both stimulus directions (temporal-to-nasal and nasal-to-temporal). Therefore, six separate trials were recorded for ablated and intact sides. The top panel shows example OKR traces from a single fish when presented a stimulus to the intact (black trace) or ablated (gray trace) side. The OKR appears normal on both ablated and control trials. The bottom panel shows average saccade frequency (left plot) and response latency before the first saccade (seconds after stimulus onset; right plot) for control and ablated trials, averaging across stimulus direction. Neither comparison of OKR performance showed a significant effect of nMLF ablation. Error bars represent SEM.