Exploring and monitoring deep-sea using underwater video systems

The ecology team of the Biology Department of the University of Bari has developed the MEMO (Marine Environment MOnitoring system) baited lander to explore the Mediterranean marine ecosystems. MEMO is equipped with 2 video cameras, a multiparametric probe and a current meter. It can work down to 1000 m in depth for 24 consecutive hours. From 2010, the MEMO lander has been deployed in some deep-sea sensitive and vulnerable habitats of the Mediterranean Sea, as part of national and international research projects. Data on the environmental parameters (depth, salinity, temperature and current) and on the distribution, size and behaviour of the benthopelagic fauna have been recorded. The different studies provided new contributions to the knowledge of biodiversity in the deep waters and in fragile and structurally complex habitats, such as coralligenous, cold-water corals and canyons in the Mediterranean Sea.