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Magnetic field perception by electroreceptors in Black Sea skates

Nature volume 249, pages 178–179 (1974)Cite this article

Abstract

THE perception of the Earth's magnetic field by vertebrates for orientation purposes has been discussed for over a century1–4. New approaches to this, still unsolved, problem were made after the lateral line of some fish species was shown to contain electroreceptor structures5,6. The great sensitivity of these structures to electrical stimulation suggested that they may be an apparatus for detection of a changing magnetic flux and thus have a role in fish orientation by means of the Earth's magnetic field7–9. The possibility of magnetic perception by animals having the electroreceptor apparatus, has been shown in behavioural experiments6,10. No direct neurophysiological data on this problem are available so far.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of the General Physiology of Perception, Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Makarova emb. 6, Leningrad, 199164, USSR

    H. R. BROWN, G. N. ANDRIANOV & O. B. ILYINSKY

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  1. H. R. BROWN
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  2. G. N. ANDRIANOV
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  3. O. B. ILYINSKY
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BROWN, H., ANDRIANOV, G. & ILYINSKY, O. Magnetic field perception by electroreceptors in Black Sea skates. Nature 249, 178–179 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249178a0

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