Meeting Abstract
Cephalopod and other marine invertebrate behavior is of growing interest for research but monitoring animals in a culturing environment is a challenge. Our goal is to develop a simple scalable real-time imaging system and downstream computational tools for short to lifecycle experiments on animal behavior in aquaria. Culturing of twenty-one California Two-Spot Octopus, Octopus bimaculoides, was done for several months, with continuous data collection. Digital security cameras provided wide-angle views of entire seawater volumes when placed inches above the surface, allowing aquaria to be housed in racks with minimally spaced shelves. Wireless data transmission enabled continuous streaming to the cloud, where data could be viewed and processed, or automatically archived. Near infrared security lighting is invisible to most animals, allowing even illumination and recording of nocturnal activities. Outdoor cameras and lights are waterproof, a critical feature in wet culturing conditions. Python scripts automated quantification of octopus behaviors, including color, contact, and movement. Octocam.io is where the public can follow the project.
