Digital ecology · Citizen science · French Polynesia
Every fin tells a story.
Fenua FINdex pairs AI-assisted photo identification with community observations to recognise individual blacktip reef sharks — and follow their lives across the lagoons of French Polynesia.
sharks individually identified in the founding photo-ID catalogue
years of shark monitoring in Mo'orea behind the project
unique patterns per shark — the left and right fins differ
Why it matters
A blacktip's dorsal fin is as individual as a fingerprint. We turn that natural ID into a lifelong, capture-free way to follow every shark.
Researchers in Mo'orea have monitored newborn blacktip reef sharks in their nursery lagoons for over a decade. Fenua FINdex connects that archive with new observations — from scientists and from you — so an animal photographed as a pup can be recognised again years later at a reef, without ever being caught.
What we do
Three ideas, one living index of fins
01
Digital ecology
We integrate more than a decade of research material — annual photo collections, field logs and nursery surveys — into one connected picture of the population.
02
AI photo-identification
Computer vision compares each new dorsal-fin photo against the catalogue and shortlists candidate matches. Trained researchers always make the final call.
03
Citizen science
Divers, snorkellers, guides and ocean users become part of the monitoring network. One good fin photo can extend a shark's life story.
How it works
From a single photo to a life history
01
Photograph a fin
A clear, side-on photo of the first dorsal fin — noting whether it shows the left or the right side.
02
Share your sighting
Send the photo with the date and location. By email today; an online portal is on the way.
03
AI shortlists matches
The fin's pigment pattern is compared against every catalogued shark.
04
Researchers validate
A trained eye confirms or rejects each candidate. Uncertain matches are never presented as fact.
05
The story grows
Your sighting joins that shark's history — where it has lived, and how long it has survived.
Built on peer-reviewed science
The fin-print is real
Published research from the team behind Fenua FINdex showed that a blacktip reef shark's dorsal-fin pigmentation is unique to the individual, differs between its left and right sides, and stays recognisable as juveniles grow — validated across a catalogue of 928 individually identified sharks. Deep-learning photo-ID methods pioneered on other shark species at James Cook University complete the toolkit.
Get involved
Seen a blacktip? Your photo is data.
While the online platform is in development, sightings are welcomed by email. Learn how to take an identification-quality photo and what to include with it.
or email your photos to [email protected]
A collaboration
Backed by long-term science
James Cook University
Scientific lead — RummerLab & Physioshark
IREMP
Project coordination, French Polynesia
CNRS
Long-term datasets & field infrastructure
Physioshark Project
Parent research program, Mo'orea
IUCN BESTLIFE2030
Funding programme (FP-8040), co-funded by the European Union