The crustaceans that smell their way home

Tiny crustaceans called mysids (Hemimysis margalefi) can use ‘smell’ to find their way back from the open sea to the caves where they live. When placed in Y-shaped containers in which one arm contains seawater from their home cave, the shrimp-like creatures tended to opt for the water they were used to. Researchers showed that water from each cave had a unique chemical signature, which they suspect the mysids are using to find their way back in low-light conditions.