The Ifremer research institute has just launched « Spies of the Deep Sea, » a citizen science game allowing everyone to take part in marine research. Since the human eye is more effective than a machine and researchers are too few to analyze all the images, internet users can thus be a great help. No need to be an expert in abyssal fauna, a keen eye is more than enough!
The principle is simple:
– « Players » have access to thousands of images collected by seabed observatories deployed on the Pacific and Atlantic ridges.
– They are then asked to identify and find in these images the different species living near hydrothermal vents. Images of these species are available to help identify them.
– The internet user clicks on each specimen they identify, can add comments, and saves it all when they are finished.
The goal of this game is to enable the rapid analysis of thousands of images, thus helping researchers to better understand and know the hydrothermal fauna. More than 5000 hours of video have been collected by the two observatories over 7 years. It is therefore very complicated to analyze all of them. » This participation will allow us to better understand the behavior and distribution of certain endemic species and thus define the specific habitats associated with each of them « , explains Marjolaine Matabos, head of the « Deep Sea Spy » citizen science project and researcher at the Deep Environment Laboratory of the Ifremer Center in Brittany. » Such observations have already allowed us to discover that marine worms, living at 2000 meters depth, enter and exit their tubes according to the tide rhythm! « .
Whether it’s the Chimaera Hydrolagus, those white fish with easily identifiable scars, the Segonzacia mesatlantica, these small light-colored crabs feeding on mussel carcasses, or the large mussel beds of Bathymodiolus azoricus, the species present near the hydrothermal vents, discovered only 40 years ago, still have many secrets to reveal.
To participate in the research and play deep-sea spies: deepseaspy.ifremer.fr
Margot Harty
cover photo: Hydrothermal site on the mid-Atlantic ridge © Ifremer / Serpentine 2007
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