Iterative 3-D Pose Correction and Content-Based Image Retrieval for Dorsal Fin Recognition

Contour or boundary descriptors may be used in content-based image retrieval to effectively identify appropriate images when image content consists primarily of a single object of interest. The registration of object contours for the purposes of comparison is complicated when the objects of interest are characterized by open contours and when reliable feature points for contour alignment are absent. We present an application that employs an iterative approach to the alignment of open contours for the purposes of image retrieval and demonstrate its success in identifying individual bottlenose dolphins from the profiles of their dorsal fins.