Salmon Magnetic Navigation
by Owen Borville
September 3, 2019
Biology
Salmon is known as a nutritious food, but these fish are also known for their magnetic navigation. Specifically, salmon are known to navigate their migration routes of up to thousands of miles or more using the Earth's magnetic field and somehow return home to their original location, even to the very spot on the stream or river in which they were hatched several years earlier. Young Atlantic salmon spend two to three years in their home river before going on a one to three year journey in the North Atlantic where they grow into an adult. They travel over 6,000 miles before coming back home to spawn. They sometimes swim 200 miles up the river to find their preferred places to spawn, or deposit their eggs.
Researchers believe that salmon use the magnetic field of the Earth to guide their routes like an internal map or compass. By sensing the intensity and change in the Earth's magnetic field, salmon can have a guide to reach their destination. Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon have been found to use the magnetic field, in addition to non-migratory salmon. During multiple laboratory tests, sample salmon were exposed to a magnetic field, and subsequently the salmon were directed in the proper path. When the direction of the magnetic field was changed, the salmon adjusted accordingly and correctly. The tests showed that the sensitivity to magnetic fields was not a learned behavior over long periods of time, but an ability programmed inside the salmon, as if the salmon were designed and created to have this sensitivity and react to it within a few minutes. The impressive fact of magnetic sensing ability is that the salmon not only know where to go, they can find home by remembering the magnetic field orientation of their home location. The specifics of the magnetic field sensing ability in salmon is not well understood and the subject of much research. However, researchers have strong evidence that salmon use magnetic fields to guide their route, and this ability is therefore strong evidence of design and creation by an Intelligent Designer.
by Owen Borville
September 3, 2019
Biology
Salmon is known as a nutritious food, but these fish are also known for their magnetic navigation. Specifically, salmon are known to navigate their migration routes of up to thousands of miles or more using the Earth's magnetic field and somehow return home to their original location, even to the very spot on the stream or river in which they were hatched several years earlier. Young Atlantic salmon spend two to three years in their home river before going on a one to three year journey in the North Atlantic where they grow into an adult. They travel over 6,000 miles before coming back home to spawn. They sometimes swim 200 miles up the river to find their preferred places to spawn, or deposit their eggs.
Researchers believe that salmon use the magnetic field of the Earth to guide their routes like an internal map or compass. By sensing the intensity and change in the Earth's magnetic field, salmon can have a guide to reach their destination. Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon have been found to use the magnetic field, in addition to non-migratory salmon. During multiple laboratory tests, sample salmon were exposed to a magnetic field, and subsequently the salmon were directed in the proper path. When the direction of the magnetic field was changed, the salmon adjusted accordingly and correctly. The tests showed that the sensitivity to magnetic fields was not a learned behavior over long periods of time, but an ability programmed inside the salmon, as if the salmon were designed and created to have this sensitivity and react to it within a few minutes. The impressive fact of magnetic sensing ability is that the salmon not only know where to go, they can find home by remembering the magnetic field orientation of their home location. The specifics of the magnetic field sensing ability in salmon is not well understood and the subject of much research. However, researchers have strong evidence that salmon use magnetic fields to guide their route, and this ability is therefore strong evidence of design and creation by an Intelligent Designer.
