Lobsters Navigate Home

“Spiny lobsters have an uncanny ability to find their way home, even after being blindfolded, driven in circles and plunked in unfamiliar waters,” states Canada’s National Post newspaper.

The researchers captured dozens of lobsters off the Florida Keys, placed them in dark tanks, and released them up to 23 miles [37 km] from where they were caught. Though their eyes were covered, the lobsters always gravitated toward their place of capture.

What may be enabling the lobsters to sense magnetic fields is the mineral magnetite, the same material used for compass needles. Magnetite was detected in lobsters, the researchers said, and has been found in other animals that have magnetic maps.

The researchers suggest that this is the most advanced form of navigation yet found in an invertebrate. “No matter what we did, the lobsters figured out the direction that they needed to walk in order to go back home,” said Dr. Kenneth Lohmann, who headed the research.

Mr. Lohmann has looked at true navigation in sea turtles but says that, at this point, the strongest evidence for a G.P.S.-like ability in animals is provided by spiny lobsters. He and Mr. Boles intend to find out whether other lobsters have similar systems but, for now, want to concentrate on the spiny lobster.

“It’s really a rather remarkable finding if you think about it​—these little crustaceans being able to somehow determine their position under conditions in which humans would be completely lost.”