Data from: Acute embryonic anoxia exposure favours the development of a dominant and aggressive phenotype in adult zebrafish

Eutrophication and climate change are increasing the incidence of severe
hypoxia in fish nursery habitats, yet the programming effects of hypoxia
on stress responsiveness in later life are poorly understood. In this
study, to investigate whether early hypoxia alters the developmental
trajectory of the stress response, zebrafish embryos were exposed to 4 h
of anoxia at 36 h post-fertilization and reared to adults when the
responses to secondary stressors were assessed. While embryonic anoxia did
not affect basal cortisol levels or the cortisol response to hypoxia in
later life, it had a marked effect on the responses to a social stressor.
In dyadic social interactions, adults derived from embryonic anoxia
initiated more chases, bit more often, entered fewer freezes and had lower
cortisol levels. Adults derived from embryonic anoxia also performed more
bites towards their mirror image, had lower gonadal aromatase gene
expression and had higher testosterone levels. We conclude that acute
embryonic anoxia has long-lasting consequences for the hormonal and
behavioural responses to social interactions in zebrafish. Specifically,
we demonstrate that acute embryonic anoxia favours the development of a
dominant and aggressive phenotype, and that a disruption in sex steroid
production may contribute to the programming effects of environmental
hypoxia.