Movement
The animal’s path through the video: total distance, straight-line distance and how direct or winding its route is (sinuosity).
From underwater video to energy estimates
NICMA Application
Upload an ordinary underwater video. NICMA tracks the animal, measures how far and how fast it swims, and estimates how much energy it uses – without tags, capture or contact. Our team then helps you turn these estimates into answers about your animals and their habitat.
Request NICMA access Open NICMA app ↗Three kinds of results from one video.
What you get
Speed
Mean and maximum swimming speed, in metres per second and in body lengths per second, so animals of different sizes can be compared.
Energy
Estimated energy used per distance travelled, and a relative effort index that shows how hard the animal was working.
All NICMA outputs are estimates based on video analysis and model assumptions. They are not direct measurements and should be interpreted by qualified scientists in the context of each study.
Animal groups
Which animals can NICMA analyse?
NICMA works with any swimming animal that is clearly visible in the video and whose approximate body length is known.
Sharks, rays and chimaeras
Cartilaginous fish (elasmobranchs and chimaeras), including deep-sea species
Sea turtles
Whales and dolphins
Cetaceans
Dugongs and manatees
Sirenians
Bony fish
What NICMA can be used for
Applications
Energy use links an animal’s behaviour to the condition of its habitat. Here are the questions NICMA can help answer.
Example from our Red Sea project
Is your reef restoration working?
In our Red Sea project, blue-spotted rays moved and used energy differently in seagrass, sand and coral habitats. The same approach can compare animals on restored and natural reefs, or on the same reef before and after restoration – giving restoration projects an additional, non-invasive indicator of how the habitat is recovering.
Reef restoration monitoring
Compare how animals move and use energy on restored and natural reef sites, and follow the changes over time.
Reef and habitat condition
Track changes in how animals use a reef or seagrass bed as the habitat improves or declines.
Marine protected areas
Compare animal behaviour and energy use inside and outside protected areas to support evaluations of their effectiveness.
Early warning
Shifts in movement and energy use may show that animals are under stress before population declines become visible.
Aquaria and aquaculture
Monitor activity and effort of animals in tanks and farms without handling them.
These are research applications. NICMA provides estimates that complement standard ecological surveys; it does not replace them.
Discuss your projectFrom video to conservation
Phase 1 — NICMA Software (Video → Result)
Upload your video and let NICMA do the analysis.
- Plays and analyses your video
- Tracks animal movement automatically
- Extracts motion and speed information
Phase 1 outputs (automatic and approximate):
- Movement tracks
- Speed metrics
- Energy expenditure estimates
Phase 2 — NICMA Team & Projects (Interpretation)
NICMA’s research and consultancy team builds on the software outputs to give them ecological meaning.
- Estimating biomass demand from energy expenditure
- Supporting assessments of ecosystem and habitat capacity
- Providing indicators of species condition and population trends
Phase 3 — Conservation & Decision Support
In Phase 3, NICMA supports real-world applications by combining:
- Field observations
- Laboratory analyses
- Software outputs
- AI-assisted interpretation
Final outputs:
- Conservation-relevant indicators
- Project-based recommendations
- Support for management, policy and applied research
Sample analyses
NICMA in action
These examples show how NICMA follows an animal in an underwater video and estimates its movement and energy use. They are demonstrations of the workflow, not study results.
Whale shark
Rhincodon typus
Video: © Sara Asadi Gharabaghi
Movement tracking of a large filter feeder swimming near the surface.
Butterfly ray
Gymnura sp.
Video: © Faisal Aljarkas, used with permission
Tracking of a butterfly ray moving close to the seabed.
Blue-spotted ribbontail ray
Taeniura lymma · Red Sea, Egypt
Video: © Sara Asadi Gharabaghi
Movement tracking from the NICMA study of rays in three habitats near Marsa Alam.
All NICMA outputs are estimates based on video analysis and model assumptions. They are not direct measurements and should be interpreted by qualified scientists in the context of each study.
User Workflow
NICMA is designed to be simple, practical and usable at every level of experience.
1. Request access
Contact our team at nicma.team@gmail.com to request NICMA access. After approval, you will receive secure login details and upload instructions.
2. Upload your underwater video
Upload a video of any marine animal – for example a shark, ray, sea turtle or dugong – through our secure upload portal.
For best results:
- the animal is clearly visible
- the camera angle stays stable
- single-camera and two-camera (stereo) videos are both supported, including diver footage, drone footage and BRUV (baited remote underwater video)
3. Add key information
When uploading, please provide:
- the approximate length of the animal
- the water temperature, if known
- the camera angle (horizontal, side view or top-down)
This information allows NICMA to estimate distance, speed and energy expenditure.
4. Automatic analysis
NICMA tracks the animal, reconstructs its path and estimates:
- total and straight-line distance
- mean and maximum swimming speed
- energy expenditure per distance travelled
Most analyses finish within minutes.
5. Receive your results
You receive a downloadable summary file with the movement metrics and energy estimates, for use in scientific, educational and conservation work together with expert interpretation.
All NICMA outputs are estimates based on video analysis and model assumptions. They are not direct measurements and should be interpreted by qualified scientists in the context of each study.
Request NICMA access