Abstract
Animal-borne video camera systems have long-been used to capture the fine-scale behaviors and unknown aspects of the biology of marine animals. However, their utility to serve as robust scientific tools in the greater bio-logging research community has not been fully realized. Here we provide, for the first time, an application of 360-degree camera technology to a marine organism, using a large tiger shark as a proof-of-concept case study. Leveraging the three-dimensional nature of the imaging technology, we derived 224 seafloor habitat assessments over the course of the nearly 1-h track, whereby the shark was able to survey ∼23,000 square meters of seafloor; over three-times greater than the capacity of non 360-degree cameras. The resulting data provided detailed information on habitat use, diving behavior, and swimming speed, as well seafloor mapping. Our results suggest that 360-degree cameras provide complimentary benefits—and in some cases superior efficiency—than unidirectional video packages, with an enhanced capacity to map seafloor.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE |
Volume | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-08-11Acknowledgements: This work was supported by grants to AG from the Wanderlust Fund, National Geographic, and was also facilitated by Hazmat Productions and Discovery Channel. These funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.