I’ve been looking up about Orcas, and I realized, how the hell do fish know where they are going in the middle of the ocean when there are no physical markers? It’s just water in every direction and depths so deep you cant see the bottom. I need google maps and I’ll still get lost. Is it something about magnets?
In: Biology
Some use echolocation like dolphins (not fish, ik, just an example). Others probably depend on light and sound sources, depth. Or maybe, philosophically, they don’t have a destination and they are just free flowing
Basically fishes that need to navigate have an organ that works like a compass using earths magnetic field
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Fully explained like you’re 5: Fish are just like us, except they can fly in the stuff they breathe. So it’s kind of like they’re in airplanes most of the time looking down at the ground!
For salmon, scientists think that they use smell to return to the river they came from. Essential to this are the ones that make a mistake and return to the wrong river. This ensures biodiversity in the gene pool.
How exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does a sun set? How exactly does a posi-trac rear-end on a Plymouth work? It just does.
Some salmon have awful navigation. Chum salmon are famous for spawning in people’s driveways and flower beds during floods. Salmon are tricky, but they are not geniuses.
>when there are no physical markers?
There are a lot of markers under the water. Humans are just not equipped to use them. Similar as some birds can “see” and use air thermals to raise/lower altitude.
Think of water temperature or salinity (content of salt). Or big changes in the depth.
Other way of orientation (that exclude the sun and stars) are earth magnetic field and in the case of whales/dolphins/orcas the famous “ecolocation” (sonar) system.
Fish have what is called a “lateral line,” an organ which tells them about the surrounding environment – including which way is up. It also allows them to detect vibrations in the water so they can school with other fish and potentially detect predators. This could be thought of like the inner ear in humans which provides balance.
I thought fish like salmon had some way of feeling magnetic poles, magnetoreception?
I think birds as well
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