Abstract
Salmon have an amazing ability to migrate thousands of kilometers from the ocean to their natal stream for reproduction. The reproductive homing migration is one of the most interesting mysteries of the salmon life cycle and most challenging to study. It is now believed that some specifi c factors of the natal stream are imprinted in particular nervous systems of juvenile salmon during downstream imprinting migration, and that adult salmon evoke these factors to recognize their natal stream during upstream homing migration (Ueda 2012). Since the olfactory hypothesis for salmon imprinting and homing to their natal stream was proposed by Hasler’s research group in the 1950s (Hasler and Scholz 1983), this olfactory discriminating ability is believed to be exerted within a short distance from the coast of their natal stream. It is also impossible for salmon to use this ability only for long distance migration from the feeding area to their natal stream. It is therefore still unknown which sensory systems play leading roles in open water orientation, which endocrine hormones control imprinting and homing migration, and how the olfactory system discriminates between various stream odors.
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