Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is an organic pollutant that is commonly detected in wildlife, humans, and the environment.  PFOS can cause a variety of toxic effects in zebrafish, however, the impact on complex behaviours like boldness and anxiety-like behaviour is unknown. To investigate the behavioural effects of PFOS in zebrafish, we exposed adult zebrafish to either 0, 0.1, or 1.0 mg/L PFOS for 40 days. After 20- and 40-days anxiety-like behaviour and boldness were assessed using the novel approach test and novel tank dive test, respectively. After 40- day exposure at a concentration of 1.0 mg/L, PFOS caused a significant increase in time spent in the upper zone and a significant decrease in time spent in the bottom zone of the novel tank dive test, suggesting decreased anxiety-like behaviour compared to controls. Neither 0.1 or 1.0 mg/L had an impact on zebrafish boldness at any time point. Exposure to 1.0 mg/L PFOS significantly decreased locomotion in the novel tank dive test after 20 days, whereas after 40 days there was no impact of PFOS on locomotion at any concentration, indicating potential short-term influences on locomotion. These results suggest chronic PFOS exposure can modulate anxiety-like behaviour, while exploratory activity and locomotion are not altered.

This dataset contains videos recorded from a Basler  monochrome camera that was positioned 1m above the arena and utilized a 4-8 mm F1:1.4 manual iris and focus lens (Computar). Adult wild-type zebrafish (Danio rerio) were gently netted and placed into the center of the arena and recording was tested immediately. The data was analyzed using motion tracking software EthoVision XT (version 10, Noldus, VA, USA) which quantified the time spent in the thigmotaxis and center zones, as well as the total distance travelled during the trial for the novel object approach test. In the novel tank dive test, the time spent in the top, middle, and bottom zone, as well as distance moved during each trial was quantified and analyzed using EthoVision XT (version 10, Noldus, VA, USA). The camera was positioned 1m away from the tank dive test to capture the vertical axis of the tank. The zones were drawn and mapped onto the arena within the EthoVision XT software for both the novel object approach test and the novel tank dive test.