Underwater Directors

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As most of the world’s ocean floors remain uncharted, scientists are brainstorming effective – and low-cost – ways to monitor underwater habitats.

For example, South African researchers equipped white sharks to record kelp forests, according to a 2019 paper.

Now, camera crews comprised of sea lions are helping marine scientists document the deep unknown seafloor, according to a new study.

Recently, a research team attached small, lightweight cameras to eight adult female Australian sea lions to map previously unexplored seabed habitats off the southern coast of Australia, the Washington Post reported.

The study took place from December 2022 to August 2023 and focused on two sea lion colonies on Kangaroo Island and the western Eyre Peninsula.

Despite a few mishaps, the animal crew collected about 89 hours of usable footage and captured nearly 350 miles of seabed habitats at depths of as much as 360 feet.

The footage revealed six broad habitat types, including macroalgae reefs, bare sand plains and sponge reefs. The team also combined the data with machine learning models to predict the presence of these habitats across larger areas, even in regions the sea lions did not visit directly.

The recordings also showed some of the marine mammal’s foraging strategies, lead author Nathan Angelakis explained in an interview with Science Magazine.

“We had lots of footage of a behavior we call sit-and-wait predation,” he said. “The sea lion will swim to the bottom and might spend two to three minutes stationary. It will wait for a fish it likes to pass, and then it will then chase down and ambush that fish.”

Angelakis and his colleagues also noticed the creature flipping over rocks to catch octopuses and a mother teaching her offspring to forage – which the team described as “the first direct evidence” of social learning in Australian sea lions.

The authors noted that the data not only helps chart the sea floor, but also helps identify key habitats of the Australian sea lions, which are listed as an endangered species.

“All of this information is critical to identifying key habitats, and giving us important information so we can effectively conserve and manage their populations in the future,” Angelakis told Science.

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