A tiny fish with the ability to grow new muscles may hold the cure to a number of degenerative diseases, according to researchers in Australia.

The zebrafish, a tropical fish from the minnow family, has been the subject of increasing study because of its unique ability to regenerate muscle fibres, with scientists focusing in particular on its ability to regenerate damaged heart cells.

But Peter Currie, an associate professor at Australia's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, says the fish's unique talent could also point the way toward cures for  degenerative muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy and atrophy.

The main difference between human and zebrafish muscle development comes shortly after birth, said Currie. Humans stop making new muscle fibres and can only gain strength by enlarging existing muscles.

The zebrafish, on the other hand, continues to create new muscles into adulthood.

"We know that similar cells appear to be there in mammalian and human tissues," he told ABC news.

"Now the task ahead for us is to try to work out the genes and the mechanisms that control the greater ability of zebrafish to undergo this regenerative capacity, and try and see if the same mechanisms can be unlocked in human tissues."

Currie and a team from the institute will publish their findings this week in the scientific journal Developmental Cell.