Automating Coral Reef Fish Family Identification on Video Transects Using a YOLOv8-Based Deep Learning Pipeline

Abstract

Coral reef monitoring in the Western Indian Ocean is limited by the labor demands of underwater visual censuses. This work evaluates a YOLOv8-based deep learning pipeline for automating family-level fish identification from video transects collected in Kenya and Tanzania. A curated dataset of 24 families was tested under different configurations, providing the first region-specific benchmark for automated reef fish monitoring in the Western Indian Ocean. The best model achieved [email protected] of 0.52, with high accuracy for abundant families but weaker detection of rare or complex taxa. Results demonstrate the potential of deep learning as a scalable complement to traditional monitoring methods.