A single scale times plaque count gave 169% more squared area test error than a constant in 11 zebrafish auditory contacts from four fish

We tested whether plaque count can set an anatomical weight for an electrical connection. We used 404 measured gap-junction plaques in 11 auditory club endings from four larval zebrafish. We fit a constant area and one scale times plaque count. Each fish was kept out of fitting, with equal weight per fish. The count rule gave 169% more mean squared area error: 0.0592 versus 0.0220 µm⁴. The result persisted under one conflicting source value and four fish-removal tests. A later model with an intercept and a free slope gave 11% less error than the constant. The main result thus applies to a weight proportional to count. Whole-contact mean shuffles gave no clear evidence for a general count-size compensation rule. With known count and uniform random area sampling, 10–19 measured plaques met a 10% expected relative root mean squared error target for these fixed contacts. This is a retrospective sampling budget. The dataset has no conductance measurements. The functional link requires common channel density, availability, open probability and single-channel conductance. The package preserves the source workbook, source audit, figures, results, code and repeat instructions.

electrical synapse · gap junction · plaque area · Mauthner cell · zebrafish · anatomical weight · sampling · prediction