'Rolls-Royce' of shark cameras can extend to turtles, whales, seals and squid for ocean's big picture

A high-tech SharkCam invented by a Cape Cod researcher offers an unprecedented window into the lives of the ocean's toothy predators, and can also extend to seals, whales, turtles and squid for a big-picture view of precious ecosystems and how to protect them. "These vehicles, these underwater robots that look like highly complex systems are just an extension of yourself to be able go where people can't go, and there's no limitation to what they can do," said Amy Kukulya, research engineer and principal investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Kukulya helped invent SharkCam, which she called "the Rolls-Royce of tags," more than ten years ago. The technology uses an intramuscular tag on a shark that constantly communicates with an autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with a handful of cameras that follows the animal and provides crucial data such as audio, video, water currents and temperature readings. Researchers have even gotten some of the robots back with huge teeth marks left behind from a curious shark.