MAGNETIC NAVIGATION, MAGNETORECEPTION, AND MIGRATION IN FISHES

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Naisbett-Jones, Lewis Clark
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology

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As the largest and most diverse vertebrate group on the planet, fishes have evolved an impressive array of sensory abilities to overcome the challenges associated with navigating the aquatic realm. Among these, the ability to detect Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetoreception, is phylogenetically widespread and used by fish to guide movements over a wide range of spatial scales ranging from local movements to transoceanic migrations. During the last half century, considerable evidence has accumulated that fishes use Earth’s magnetic field as a compass for maintaining direction (e.g. toward north or south) as well as a kind of “map” or positional sense that encodes information about their location. Yet, despite significant advances in the field, much about the magnetic navigation in fishes remains enigmatic. How fish detect magnetic fields remains unknown and our understanding of the evolutionary origins of vertebrate magnetoreception would benefit greatly from studies that include a wider array of fish taxa. The research presented in the following six chapters provides new evidence that fishes use Earth’s magnetic field in navigation, insights into the possible underlying mechanisms and functional characteristics of the magnetic sense in fishes, as well as advances in methodology for tracking fish movements.

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