Virtual Lab: Live Fish Identification Project

Goal: Incorporate techniques you’ve learned in the lab and utilize resources at your disposal to identify fishes in footage taken from live underwater cameras.

Take a look at a few underwater camera feeds.
Choose a video feed. It does not need to be live. Watch the footage for a while.
Take some screenshots focusing on one unidentified fish (you will need to repeat this step for at least 10 different fishes). Include a good screenshot (and specify which site it is from) in your final report. You may use multiple livestream cams to reach 10 species.
Using dichotomous keys and other resources (e.g. FishBase.org) begin making identifications.
When you have made initial identifications, corroborate your ID with available guides (Fishes: Greater Caribbean, Fishes: East Pacific, Fishes: Red Sea). Make corrections accordingly (e.g. if the image was taken at a depth of 250 meters and the species you think it is only lives to a depth of 100 meters, you’ll want to rethink the identification!)

Virtual Lab Report: Once you have narrowed down your species ID (for at least 10 different fishes) as much as possible (order, family, species if you can), include the screenshot, and write up your identification along with your justification in a 2-page, double-spaced document. If you are waffling between a few species choices and cannot definitively say which species it is due to lack of access to the specimen then include and discuss these difficulties in your report.

Submit an electronic copy of your screenshots along with the 2-page document by noon (12:00pm) Friday October 15th.

How to take a screenshot: PC, Mac

Criteria for Virtual Lab Report Grading:

∙ Appropriate screenshot choice

∙ Underwater camera location specified

∙ Inclusion of taxonomy of the species

∙ Justification of identification including difficulties if any

∙ References