Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Seabed Biodiversity Project - baited remote underwater video station (BRUVS (TM)) surveys of vertebrates

The dataset comprises 39,989 individuals from 347 species of fishes, sharks, rays and sea snakes observed at 366 sites from 1585 baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) videos. There are over 17,000 images referenced by site, with 2,200 of the best images in a 'reference library'.Data recorded concern: - classification of the habitat in the field of view (topography, sediments, benthos); - the identity of fish and CAABCODES- their time of arrival- their behaviour (8 categories, including feeding on the bait)- their maturity (adult or juvenile)- their relative abundance (as MaxN = the maximum number visible at one time, or distinguishable at different times as separate individuals e.g. much larger/smaller, male/female)- the time elapsed before MaxN and feeding occurs.The custom interface developed by AIMS staff, BRUVS2.1mdb©, Australian Institute of Marine Science 2006, added this data to, and called up, 'operations' data collected at sea when each BRUVS was deployed. The unique combination of a site and a Camera Number links all records in all tables of the relational database, allowing access to times that events occurred, together with reference images and reference video. To detect species richness and diversity of fishes sharks, rays and sea snakes below the limits of safe SCUBA diving. The data is an output from the 'Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project', a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries (QDPIF), and the Queensland Museum (QM). The project was funded by the CRC Reef Research Centre, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the National Oceans Office, and led by Drs R. Pitcher (Principal Investigator, CSIRO), P. Doherty (AIMS), J. Hooper (QM) and N. Gribble (QDPIF).