Salmon Use Sophisticated Compass Cells by Brian Thomas, M.S. | Jul. 30, 2012 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...