Evidence for Magnetoreception in Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), Black Drum (Pogonias cromis), and Sea Catfish (Ariopsis felis)

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence of magnetoreception in three fish species using baited hook tests, revealing species-specific responses and suggesting a simple method to identify magnetoreceptive species.

Contribution

The paper introduces a straightforward experimental approach to detect magnetoreception in fish, expanding knowledge of species with this sensory ability and aiding future research.

Findings

Black drum are attracted to magnetic hooks.

Red drum prefer control hooks, showing no attraction to magnetism.

Sea catfish show no preference, indicating no magnetoreception.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, magnetoreception has been discovered in several species of teleost and elasmobranch fishes by employing varied experimental methods including conditioning experiments, observations of alignment with external fields, and experiments with magnetic deterrents. Biogenic magnetite has been confirmed to be an important receptor mechanism in some species, but there is ongoing debate regarding whether other mechanisms are at work. This paper presents evidence for magnetoreception in three additional species, red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), black drum (Pogonias cromis), and sea catfish (Ariopsis felis), by employing experiments to test whether fish respond differently to bait on a magnetic hook than on a control. In red drum, the control hook outcaught the magnetic hook by 32 - 18 for chi-squared = 3.92 and a P-value of 0.048. Black drum showed a significant attraction for the magnetic hook, which prevailed over the control hook by 11 - 3 for chi-squared = 4.57 and a P-value of 0.033. Gafftopsail catfish (Bagre marinus) showed no preference with a 31 - 35 split between magnetic hook and control for chi-squared = 0.242 and a P-value of 0.623. In a sample of 100 sea catfish in an analogous experiment using smaller hooks, the control hook was preferred 62-38 for chi-squared = 5.76 and a P-value of < 0.001. Such a simple method for identifying magnetoreceptive species may quickly expand the number of known magnetoreceptive species and allow for easier access to magnetoreceptive species and thus facilitate testing of magnetoreceptive hypotheses.