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The use of celestial and magnetic cues by orienting sockeye salmon smolts

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Yearling sockeye salmon (smolts),Oncorhynchus nerka, trapped at the outlet of Babine Lake, Canada, on their way from the lake downstream to the ocean were tested in round orientation tanks. With a view of the sky, the smolts oriented towards the lake's outlet in the normal magnetic field (Fig. 3) and in a field rotated 90 ° counterclockwise (Fig. 4).

  2. 2.

    Under opaque covers, the smolts displayed a bimodal distribution. In the normal magnetic field, they oriented towards or away from the lake's outlet (Fig. 5). In the altered field, the axis of the distribution was rotated 56 ° away from the axis in the normal field (Fig. 6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Fisheries WH-10, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Thomas P. Quinn & Ernest L. Brannon

  2. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Biological Station, V9R 5K6, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada

    Thomas P. Quinn

Authors
  1. Thomas P. Quinn
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  2. Ernest L. Brannon
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Quinn, T.P., Brannon, E.L. The use of celestial and magnetic cues by orienting sockeye salmon smolts. J. Comp. Physiol. 147, 547–552 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612020

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612020

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