How do the elements of the craniofacial skeleton arise, grow, and reshape? Zebrafish, with a sophisticated knowledge of its genetics and genomics, with favorable attributes for phenotypic analyses of development, and with patterns of development conserved among all vertebrates, provides a powerful animal model for learning about craniofacial development. In particular, with current transgenic approaches one can examine craniofacial skeletal elements in exquisite cellular detail during an extended period of development within living, intact embryos and larvae – an investigative method unsurpassed in accuracy and sensitivity. These and related studies are the focus of Chuck Kimmel’s lab.