Magnetic materials in otoliths of bird and fish lagena and their function
Magnetic materials in otoliths of bird and fish lagena and their function
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DOI：
10.1080/000164801316878872
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发表时间：
2001-07-01
影响因子：
1.4
通讯作者：
Iida, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Harada, Y;Taniguchi, M;Iida, A
鸽子归巢能力之谜一直是人们非常感兴趣的话题，人们普遍认为这可能与地球磁场的信息有关。然而，目前还没有发现特定的磁性感觉器官。最近在鱼类和鸟类的耳石中发现了磁性材料，这提出了这些结构可能是难以捉摸的磁感觉系统中的关键元素的可能性。对于材料的元素分析，使用同步辐射的X射线荧光是可用的最强大的技术之一，并在本研究中用于耳石的分析。通过比较几种海洋鱼类和鸟类的三种不同类型的耳石的组成，我们发现，囊状和椭圆囊耳石很少含有可检测到的铁，但铁是存在于鸟类的lagenal耳石的显着数量。拉格纳耳石由低惯性的微小磁性颗粒组成，它们被施加的磁场所取代，为动物提供地磁感觉输入，大脑将从中推断导航信息。
The mystery of the homing ability of pigeons has been the subject of much interest and it is widely believed that information from the earth's magnetic field may be involved. However, no specific magnetic sensory organ has yet been identified. The recent finding of magnetic materials in the lagenal otolith of fish and birds raises the possibility that these structures may be key elements in the elusive magnetic sensory system. For the elemental analysis of materials X-ray fluorescence using synchrotron radiation is one of the most powerful techniques available and was used in this study for analysis of the otoliths. By comparing the compositions of the three different kinds of otoliths among several species of sea fish and birds, we found that the saccular and utricular otoliths rarely contain detectable levels of iron but that iron is present in significant quantities in the lagenal otoliths of the birds. The lagenal otolith comprises tiny magnetic particles of low inertia that are displaced by imposed magnetic fields, providing the animal with geomagnetic sensory input, from which the brain would infer navigational information.