The meeting 'From sensory perception to motor output: genetic bases of behavior in the zebrafish embryo' was held at Minerve (South of France) on March 16-18, 2007. The meeting site was beautifully situated in the heart of the Minervois wine country, and its remoteness promoted conversations and interaction over the course of the program. The meeting covered neurogenesis and eye development on day 1, ear and lateral line development on day 2, and brain connectivity and behavior on day 3. Underlying all sessions, however, ran the growing importance of live imaging, an approach that takes full advantage of the transparency of fish embryos and early larvae, as illustrated by several movies and links in this report.