An enhanced underwater camera apparatus for seabed observation of megabenthic epifauna in the northern Yellow Sea

Seabed photographing has been applied with various underwater camera apparatuses (UCAs) for observations of megabenthic epifauna, which reveals more details than traditional sampling tools do. In this study, we improved a UCA named a towed underwater video-camera system (TUV system) with image proce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Oceanology and Limnology
Main Authors: Yu, Nan, Sun, Song, Wang, Shiwei, Liu, Qun, Zhang, Guangtao, Zhang, Fang, Sun, Xiaoxia
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: SCIENCE PRESS 2020
Subjects:
seabed photography
brittle stars
underwater camera apparatuses (UCAs)
coastal waters
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Oceanography
Limnology
EPIBENTHIC MEGAFAUNA
ABUNDANCE
BIOMASS
ASSEMBLAGES
GREENLAND
COMMUNITY
DENSITY
MARGIN
SLOPE
Greenland
Online Access:http://ir.qdio.ac.cn/handle/337002/170047
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-019-9122-9
Description
Summary:Seabed photographing has been applied with various underwater camera apparatuses (UCAs) for observations of megabenthic epifauna, which reveals more details than traditional sampling tools do. In this study, we improved a UCA named a towed underwater video-camera system (TUV system) with image processing software for seabed photographing in coastal areas up to 100 m. In May 2017, the TUV system was tested at 4 stations in the Zhangzi Island marine area in the northern Yellow Sea to investigate local megabenthic epifauna, especially brittle stars. At each station, more than 500 good seabed photographs each in area of 0.155 0 m(2) were obtained in just 10 min. Almost all of the epifauna larger than 1 mm could be identified from the photographs, including echinoderms, bivalves, cnidarians, and crustaceans. Three dominant brittle stars (Ophiopholis mirabilis, Ophiura sarsii vadicola, and Stegophiura sladeni) were spotted, and their abundance, disc diameter, cluster size, and coverage area were calculated and analyzed from the seabed photographs. The results show that the TUV system could be applied in coastal waters of hard sandy bottoms and could be used for quantitative investigations of megabenthic epifauna.

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