Looking for AI-Based Coral Identification Platforms
Neeraj Buneeti
Hi everyone,
I'm working on a coral species identification project and I'm trying to find AI or machine learning-based tools that can help with this. Specifically, I'm looking for platforms where I can:
-
Upload coral images
-
Get automated species-level predictions using computer vision or ML
-
Avoid relying on human input or manual browsing of references
I'm not looking for LLM-based solutions like ChatGPT or general reference databases like WoRMS or CoralSoftheWorld — I'm specifically looking for dedicated AI-powered platforms or apps (like PlantNet, Merlin, or Seek, but for corals).
Does anyone know of any such tools, apps, APIs, or research platforms that support this kind of coral ID via image upload?
Thanks in advance for any leads!
Best,
Neeraj Vardhan Buneeti
yahia battach
Hi Neeraj,
Thanks for your message.
What you're looking for is extremely challenging — and in many cases, practically impossible. As an AI researcher working in conservation and biodiversity over the past three years, I've tested various platforms and even trained my own models. From this experience, I can say that species-level identification, particularly using images, remains a major hurdle, even for human experts.
In fact, accurate identification at the species level often requires highly specialized taxonomic expertise focused on a specific region, family, or genus, and even then, only a few top experts can achieve consistent results.
Currently, we're conducting research on this topic using Acropora corals in the Red Sea as a case study. While progress is being made, we're still not at a point where we can claim precise, species-level identification using AI.
Could you share more about your specific use case? Understanding the context will help me provide more tailored insights or suggestions.
Best regards,
Yahia
Jordan Pierce - NOAA Affiliate
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CoralNet Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coralnet-users+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coralnet-users/ff649b5d-e231-49d1-a18b-c764487ce61an%40googlegroups.com.
--
Chiali Tsai
GitHub.com/Jordan-Pierce/CoralNet-Toolbox
I'm curious if building something similar to Zooniverse for long-term monitoring. Will this type of project help address some challenges we are currently facing?
Sorry if I hijacked the conversation.
Chiali
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coralnet-user...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coralnet-users/ff649b5d-e231-49d1-a18b-c764487ce61an%40googlegroups.com.
yahia battach
Thanks for sharing the CoralNet Toolbox, I'll take a look at it.
I've actually been exploring BioCLIP and similar architectures for some time now. Despite fine-tuning on large datasets, the results weren't as promising as initially hoped. Interestingly, the self-supervised learning (SSL) based methods seemed to perform best when trained effectively.
I appreciate your insights on the challenges of automated species identification. As I mentioned in my previous message, I'm collaborating closely with taxonomists on this, and we're hoping to have some shareable results in the near future.
In the meantime, I'd be happy to assist in any way I can or share my thoughts and experiments with your setups.
Best regards,
Yahia
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coralnet-user...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coralnet-users/ff649b5d-e231-49d1-a18b-c764487ce61an%40googlegroups.com.