CIRCULAR HARMONIC FILTERS FOR THE RECOGNITION OF MARINE MICROORGANISMS

Ne present an application of circular-harmonic filters (CHF's) for the recognition of planktonic microorganisms discriminated both genera Ac artia and Calanus. The symmetry of genus Acartia permitted discriminat ion to the species and sex levels, whereas the asymmetry of the genus Calanus permitted discrimination only to the generic level. The differ ences among organisms of different sex of the genus Calanus could not be detected by these particular CHF's. More research needs to be carri ed out with more complex CHF's to enhance their performance and to per mit the implementation of an automated optodigital system to identify and count marine microorganisms. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America