The lymphatic system regulates tissue fluid homeostasis, aids immunity and helps absorb dietary fat. Because aberrant lymphatic growth is associated with cancer metastasis and chronic inflammation, a better understanding of lymphangiogenesis could identify therapeutic targets for these and other lymphatic abnormalities. The major trunk lymphatic vessel in the zebrafish embryo is a well-established model of lymphangiogenesis but the rest of the zebrafish’s lymphatic system is poorly described. On p. 2381, Phil Crosier and colleagues remedy this situation by generating transgenic lines in which the promoter of lyve1 (which encodes lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1) drives lymphatic vessel expression of fluorescent reporters. The researchers generate a map of zebrafish lymphatic development and characterize facial, intestinal and lateral lymphatic vessel networks for the first time. They also describe a novel mechanism that underlies the development of the lateral facial lymphatic. These results show that lymphatic vessel formation in zebrafish is more complex than previously thought, thereby increasing the versatility of zebrafish as a model of lymphangiogenesis.