One of the world’s great migration mysteries – how salmon find their way home from the distant ocean – may have been solved. Researchers studying the movement of sockeye salmon from British Columbia’s Fraser River say the fish are imprinted with a magnetic map when they are juveniles. And they later use that map as adults to read the Earth’s geomagnetic field, which guides them back from the North Pacific to the river mouth.
Mark Hume reports.
Magnetism guides salmon migration, research suggests http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/magnetism-guides-salmon-migration-research-suggests/article8368490/
Listen to: EarthFix Conversation: Salmon Use Earth’s Magnetic Field To Go Home
http://earthfix.kcts9.org/flora-and-fauna/article/earthfix-conversation-salmon-use-earths-magnetic-f/