Aquaticode launches AquaLens for automated deformity sorting, starting with sea bass and sea bream

Aquaticode has launched AquaLens, an AI system that finds and removes deformed juveniles in fish hatcheries. The first species are sea bass and sea bream, where AquaLens takes over a job most hatcheries still do by hand, and a single system sorts up to 350,000 fish a day.

Today that sorting is done by eye, often by teams of 15 to 30 people. Buyers set strict limits on deformities, so the job can’t be skipped.

AquaLens scans each fish from multiple angles and uses deep learning to assess deformities, health and weight in real time. It detects deformities of the operculum, jaw, nose, spine and fins, among others, with close to 100% accuracy, then uses soft-touch sorting to send every fish to a commercial or non commercial group.

AquaLens works on juveniles of one to ten grams, so the fish that won’t make the grade come out at the start of production. A deformed fish that’s missed can keep eating feed and taking up space for months, sometimes all the way to harvest, years later.

Fish pass through without manual handling, which is better for welfare. It’s also a bit like sending every fish to the doctor: producers understand health per fish and per batch, instead of estimating it from samples.

“Every sea bass and sea bream hatchery already sorts out deformed fish. The only question is whether it’s done by people or by a machine,” said Stian Rognlid, CEO of Aquaticode. “A good grader can spot a deformed jaw or spine. But people slow down when a batch is full of deformed fish, and they don’t grade the same at the end of a shift as at the start. AquaLens keeps its pace and its criteria from the first fish to the last.”

AquaLens is built on the infrastructure behind SORTpro, the salmon sorting system Aquaticode launched in 2023, and on what SORTpro has taught the team about hatchery processes and the realities of running a farm.

“We’ve done this in salmon. Now we’re doing it in bass and bream, and other species will follow,” Rognlid said.

The launch follows Aquaticode’s agreements with Cooke ESPAÑA in January and with Ilknak in Turkey this spring, where AquaLens will phenotype and sort 300 million sea bass and sea bream. Aquaticode’s strategic advisors include Trond Williksen, former CEO of SalMar, AKVA group and Benchmark, who joined last year, and Einar Wathne, former CEO of Cargill Aqua Nutrition.

AquaLens is now available to other bass and bream hatcheries as a service, priced per fish sorted with no upfront investment.

Watch AquaLens in operation: https://youtu.be/SI0k-jeqfq0