• Sharks use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate during long distance journeys

• Iron and other metals produce electrical currents, it creates a magnetic field that surrounds the planets.

• Sharks can navigate by sensing fields that rests on the earth’s geomagnetism that is uneven.

• north/south pole have opposing magnetic signatures

• Able to figure out what direction they are heading

• Sharks have receptors that sense changes in voltage in the environment around them. 

• Electroreceptors are used to detect electrical nerve impulses of nearby prey

• Sharks can perceive and react to the magnetic fields around them.

“To orient towards home, these sharks must have some kind of a magnetic map sense,” says Keller. “If I put you in the middle of nowhere you couldn't point toward your house unless you knew where you were in relation to it, and that’s a map sense.”

Study on sharks using earth magnetic field 

• Undergo precise, long distance migrations

• It is unknown which navigational mechanism is used to travel long distances

• Sharks use magnetic fields to locate homeward orientation.

A study was conducted to show magnetic displacement on bonnetheads ( sphyrna tiburon), it showed that using the magnetic map can give clues that point towards homeward orientation

• It explains aspects of the genetic structure of the shark population in the atlantic

• This study raises a question regarding how the roue and population structure are maintained in marine environments

• Evolved sensitivity to magnetic forces

• Differentiate geographic location using map information