Justin Gilligan


How do you measure an underwater alpha predator? Mark Meekan, principal research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, has been studying sharks near Palau, a Pacific island nation 800km from the Philippines, using a stereoscopic camera that can size them up safely. The diver-operated rig uses a pair of digital cameras held one metre apart that record the shark from slightly different angles. Back on dry land, software compares the two views to provide measurements.

"The device is accurate enough to identify individual sharks by their body proportions," says Meekan. "This lets us track their growth rate. The only other way to do that would be to catch the animal and tag it, which is not good for it -- and is a risk to the researchers."


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