A computational framework for testing hypotheses of the minimal mechanical requirements for cell aggregation using early annual killifish embryogenesis as a model.

Deciphering the biological and physical requirements for the outset of multicellularity is limited to few experimental models. The early embryonic development of annual killifish represents an almost unique opportunity to investigate cellular aggregation in a vertebrate model. As an adaptation to seasonal drought, annual killifish employs a unique developmental pattern in which embryogenesis occurs only after undifferentiated embryonic cells have completed epiboly and dispersed in low density on the egg surface.