Marine Species Identification by Underwater Photography

Cristin Borda, Silvana Popescu, Iuliana Cristina El Mahdy


Underwater photography is important for most underwater experiments. One way to take such pictures is by scuba diving. In this study 197 underwater photographs were taken by 21 dives in 6 Black Sea dive sites. Maximum depths of the dives were between 4 and 18.5 meters. A Nikon Coolpix S510 camera was used for underwater photography, with Fantasea FS 500 waterproof housing and no strobe. After studying a total of 175 properly taken photographs, 20 species of Kingdom Animalia were identified. In conclusion, underwater photography is a useful tool for marine species identification and may complement scuba diving visual census.


photography, underwater, marine species, identification, scuba diving

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