Sharkbook

Sharkbook is the result of collaboration between Simon J Pierce of the Marine Megafauna Foundation and Jason Holmberg of Wild Me. The software is Open Source and is now being used by other biology projects.^[1][2][3]

Whale sharks have unique spot patterning on their sides, similar to a human fingerprint, which allows for individual identification. Scuba divers around the world can photograph sharks and upload their identification photographs to the Sharkbook website, supporting global research and conservation efforts.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Additionally, the software automatically searches social media sites like YouTube and Instagram to look for images of whale sharks and adds them to the database.^[2]

Sharkbook software uses special pattern-matching software to identify the unique spots on each shark. This software and algorithms were originally adapted from NASA star tracking software^[2] used on the Hubble Space Telescope.^[3][9] This software uses a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm, which can cope with complications presented by highly variable spot patterns and low contrast photographs.^[4][10][11]

This citizen science tool is free to use by researchers worldwide. Sharkbook represents a global initiative to centralize shark sightings and facilitate research on these vulnerable species.^{[12][13][14][15]}

• Manta Matcher - For Manta Rays
• Flukebook - For whales and dolphins