Development of an In-Situ Underwater Microscope Using Flow-Blocking Mechanism for Robust Plankton Observation

Observation of plankton can help establish smart aquaculture. This paper proposes an underwater microscope system that can directly photograph underwater plankton in situ without the need to sample water. Furthermore, the proposed system can be operated even in environments with ocean currents through a flow-blocking mechanism and an instantaneous lighting module synchronized with the camera shutter. It was verified that the proposed system could acquire and store images of underwater plankton through experiments in real seas.