Insta360
Monitoring
Our team at Pelagic Divers has developed an innovative new monitoring system using Insta360 cameras to study the island’s cleaning stations from a completely new perspective. Building on the concept of traditional Eye on the Reef (EOTR) setups, this system is designed to be positioned beneath cleaning stations, allowing us to observe visiting animals from below and capture their full movement patterns in a much wider field of view.
Our 360° camera system captures the entire surroundings in every direction, allowing us to document all activity around the cleaning station without blind spots. By recording in a full spherical field of view, it provides a complete, uninterrupted perspective of animal movements, interactions, and environmental context.
The unit hosts an Insta360 camera housed in a custom waterproof casing, connected to high-capacity power banks that allow continuous recording for up to 48 hours. This extended runtime means we can monitor cleaning stations without disturbance, providing a rare opportunity to document natural behaviour over long periods.
The aim of the project is to track the movement paths and visitation patterns of a range of marine animals, such as sharks, rays, and pelagics, as they approach, use, and leave the cleaning stations.
By capturing their trajectories in 360°, we gain a far more comprehensive understanding of spatial use, individual behaviour, frequency of visits, and interactions between species.
Ultimately, this new Insta360 platform helps us build a holistic, immersive dataset on cleaning-station ecology and contributes valuable insights to ongoing research and conservation around Fuvahmulah’s megafauna.
this project is in collaboration with manta trust, as they kindly donated the EOTR Housing to us
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