Salmon Use Sophisticated Compass Cells | The Institute for Creation Research

Salmon Use Sophisticated Compass Cells

How does the salmon find its way from the big, wide ocean to the same stream, hundreds of miles away to the exact same spawning ground of its birth? Studies have shown that the fish use their acute sense of smell to navigate, whereby chemoreceptor cells in their noses detect specific chemicals. Other studies have shown that salmon and other animals somehow also use an internal compass. Researchers have finally discovered it.

The salmon compasses were hard to find because they are so small. Individual cells contain microscopic clusters of magnetite crystals, the same mineral used in hand-held compasses. Scientists isolated them from salmon nose tissue cells and observed them under a microscope. Rotating a larger magnetic field around the tissues caused only the magnetic cells to rotate in sync. They wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "The cells were observed to rotate at the same frequency as the driving frequency of the external magnetic field."1

Apparently, the cells surrounding the magnetite-containing cells detect and transmit the angle of rotation data to sensory nerves that lead toward the fish brain. The brain coordinates combined chemical, magnetic, and other information, enabling the fish to successfully navigate.

Further, only one in 10,000 of the fish's nasal tissue cells were magnetite-containing magnetoreceptors. Senior author of the study, Michael Winklhofer of Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, told Live Science, "If they were as closely packed as photoreceptor cells in the retina or as hair cells in the inner ear, then they would interfere strongly with each other, because their internal compass needles would produce a locally strong magnetic field, which would be felt by the neighboring magnetic cells. Such proximity would deteriorate the magnetic sense."2

The ingenious microscopic compass cells would not even work if they were not distributed as they are among surrounding cells!

Would anybody argue that a fully functional compass, complete with a spinning needle, could ever be arranged by accident? Apparently so. University of North Carolina Biologist and expert in animal's magnetic behaviors told Live Science that since other animals appear to navigate with compass-derived information, then they, too, must have internal compasses similar to salmon. He therefore suggested that additional kinds of magnetoreceptors may have evolved separately.

But there is no evidence for this. It is, as always, an assertion based on a pre-existing commitment to evolution. In fact, the assertion that compasses evolved, which means they constructed themselves piece-by-piece without intelligent input, ignores the fact that the irreducible core compass structure cannot be reduced or amended without destroying its function. The crystals, the cell's placement, the cell-to-cell sense receptors, and the means to communicate the magnetoreceptor data to the brain for processing must all exist at the same time. And that required a master engineer.

References

  1. Eder, S. et al. Magnetic characterization of isolated candidate vertebrate magnetoreceptor cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online before print on pnas.org July 9, 2012.
  2. Wolchover, N. Likely Source of Animals' Magnetic Sense Identified. Live Science. Posted on livescience.com July 9, 2012, accessed July 17, 2012.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on July 30, 2012.

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...

NEWS
Our Sun, Finely Tuned for Life on Earth
Aside from appreciating the splendor of the sun during a beautiful sunrise or sunset, many rarely consider how special, necessary, and finely tuned...

NEWS
March 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who...