Cifonauta

marine biology image database

Database organization

Cifonauta photos and videos can be searched by basic information (metadata), such as species, place, author, size, etc. These tags organized by categories like photographic technique, life stage, habitat, etc, provides a more informative and interesting navigation. For example, you might want to look for dark-field crustacean larvae photos, or just browse through the adult forms of planktonik organisms. Image categorization and a description for each tag (with a random example) is below.

Taxa

The taxonomic information in this site does not adopt any particular classification scheme and is built automatically from ITIS database. From the taxon name (contained in the image) we can retrieve its full taxonomic hierarchy and generate a simple tree for browsing. Therefore, the classification might not be in accordance with latest findings of each area; it reflects, almost strictly, the data from ITIS. Only in some cases we employ the phylogeny proposed by the author (or expert) that identified the species.

Size

We arbitrarily created 5 classes of sizes to provide an idea of organisms' dimensions. Benthic fauna received additional size information: macrofauna, meiofauna e microfauna (see item Life mode, below). Landscape/habitat photos do not hold size information, but if they are showing an specific organism (barnacles on rocky shore, for example) a size class is provided. Size classes are:

Size Description Example
0.1 - 1.0 mm Embryos, larvae and planktonic creatures.
Gastrotrich +
Gastrotrich
<0.1 mm Unicellular organisms and details of multicellular organisms.
Tintinnid ciliate +
Tintinnid ciliate
>100 mm Even larger organisms.
Egret bird +
Egret bird
10 - 100 mm Macroscopic organisms.
Feather star +
Feather star
1.0 - 10 mm Tiny creatures but visible at the naked eye.
Hydromedusa +
Hydromedusa
Adult medusa from plankton.

Photographic techniques

Different techniques used to capture the dataase images were divided in 4 categories.: submarine, macrophotography, landscape/seascape e microscopy. To embrace the variety of microscopy techiniques the latter was subdivided. This is the list of tags related to photographic techniques:

Technique Description Example
diving Photographs taken under water.
Brain coral +
Brain coral
landscape Depicts an environment.
Rock shore +
Rock shore
macrophotography Detail shot with a hand-held digital camera, usually of an organism in aquarium.
mev Scanning electron microscopy.
submarine
Pirajica +
Pirajica
Pirajica.
microscopy
bright field transmitted light illumination in which the sample appears dark in a bright background
Comb jelly or ctenophore +
Comb jelly or ctenophore
confocal Confocal microscopy.
Pluteus larva of a sea biscuit +
Pluteus larva of a sea biscuit
dark field transmitted illumination in which the light beam scatters as it hits the specimen, so it appears bright against a dark background
Differential interference contrast Microscopy technique used to enhance contrast in unstained, transparent samples (DIC).
polarized light Polarized light microscopy reveals birefringent structures.
Juvenile sea biscuit +
Juvenile sea biscuit
Spine on the posterior region.
protargol impregnation Silver impregnation technique.
Epizoic ciliate +
Epizoic ciliate

Life stage

The organisms photographed are not always adults.

Stage Description Example
adult Sexually mature organism.
Briozoário ctenostomado +
Briozoário ctenostomado
embryo Organism in its early stages of development.
Sea cucumber +
Sea cucumber
First cleavage
gamete A mature sexual reproductive cell (sperm or egg)
juvenile Sexually immature organism that resembles an adult.
Juvenile sea biscuit +
Juvenile sea biscuit
Aboral surface (opposite to mouth).
larva Post-embryonic stage that usually differs from the adult stage in morphology, behavior, habitat, and others. Does not reproduce sexually.
Mantis shrimp larva +
Mantis shrimp larva
metamorphosis Change in shape and/or body structure that occurs between the larval and juvenile or adult.
Sea biscuit metamorphosis +
Sea biscuit metamorphosis
Polarized light highlights the calcareous skeleton showing the structure of spines, podia, and remnants of the larval skeleton.
paratomy
neriliidae polychaete +
neriliidae polychaete
progenesis
Polychaete dorvinelid +
Polychaete dorvinelid

Habitat

We also indicate the habitat of each organism whenever possible.

Habitat Description Example
artificial substrate
baixio não vegetado
banco não vegetado
hard bottom
Peixe limpador neon +
Peixe limpador neon
Cleaning fish.
infralittoral Coastal region permanently submerged.
Benthic chaetognath +
Benthic chaetognath
intertidal Coastal region only exposed at low tide.
Snail on red mangrove roots +
Snail on red mangrove roots
mangrove Transition zone between land and sea, dominated by a typical vegetation that grows in areas that are frequently inundated with salt and fresh water.
Sea pansy +
Sea pansy
The sea pansy is a collection of polyps having different forms and functions, being common in sand flats in protected areas.
mesolitoral
rocky-shore Transition between marine and terrestrial environments formed by rocks.
Nudibranch (sea slug) +
Nudibranch (sea slug)
sand beach Landform along the shoreline consisting sand, gravel, or pebbles.
Egret bird +
Egret bird
soft bottom

Miscellaneous

Tags that do not fit into other categories. Could be common terms frequently searched.

Others Description Example
3d Image rendered in three dimensions.
3D projection of a sea biscuit pluteus larva 00:16 +
3D projection of a sea biscuit pluteus larva
Montagem de fotos de uma larva plúteos da bolacha-do-mar Clypeaster subdepressus mostrando sua tridimensionalidade.
alga Informal term for a diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms, including unicellular (microalgae) to multicellular forms, like kelps and sargassum.
Hydroid +
Hydroid
Colony on the green algae Caulerpa uvifera.
cebimar-usp Images produced at the Center for Marine Biology of the University of São Paulo (CEBIMar/USP).
Tintinnid with agglutinated lorica +
Tintinnid with agglutinated lorica
cnidarian tree of life project
Freshwater hydromedusa +
Freshwater hydromedusa
coral Marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria, colonial or not, which secrete a hard, calcium carbonate skeleton.
holotype The type specimen used in the original description of a species.
Hydroid +
Hydroid
Colony on the hydroid Lytocarpus filamentosus
introduced species A species living outside its native distributional range.
Brittle star +
Brittle star
Invasive brittle star on octocoral host.
invasive species Non-indigenous species, or "non-native", plants or animals that adversely affect the habitats and regions they invade.
Brittle star +
Brittle star
Invasive brittle star on octocoral host.
jellyfish Any of various gelatinous aquatic organisms, particularly the medusa stage of cnidarians.
Scyphozoan +
Scyphozoan
Adult medusa. The juvenile stage the spider crab Libinia ferreirae can be seen inside the bell of the jellyfish Lychnorhiza lucerna.
medusoid a reduced or vestigial medusa
Hydroid +
Hydroid
Hydranths.
neotype
paratype The type specimen used in the original description of a species.
recruitment plate
risk of extinction A species that is likely to become extinct in the near future.
Balanoglossus gigas +
Balanoglossus gigas
Acorn worm (enteropneust) - marine burrowing wormlike invertebrate.
seto marine biological laboratory
Cubozoan +
Cubozoan
Adult medusa.
symbiosis Organism living with, on, or in another, without injury to either.
Crab associated with a sand dollar +
Crab associated with a sand dollar
unicellular Organism having or consisting of a single cell.
Tintinnid with hyaline lorica +
Tintinnid with hyaline lorica