Coastal breeding aggregations of threatened stingrays and guitarfish in the Levant

Stingrays and guitarfish are globally threatened by overexploitation, particularly so in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, very little information is known about their ecology, behavior, and taxonomy in the Mediterranean, especially in the Levant, where water temperature, salinity, and the impact of invasive species are relatively high. <br> This database describes the batoid community within Gador Marine Reserve. Here, surveys have been executed across the years 2016-2018 in shallow coastal habitats using visual surveys and measured species abundances. <br> More information on how this data was collected is available in the following publication: Chaikin, S., Belmaker, J., &amp; Barash, A. (2020). Coastal breeding aggregations of threatened stingrays and guitarfish in the Levant. <em>Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems</em>, <em>30</em>(6), 1160-1171. <br> *<strong>The species </strong><em><strong>Dasyatis chrysonota</strong></em><strong> was replaced by </strong><em><strong>Dasyatis marmorata</strong></em><strong> according to:</strong> Serena, F., Abella, A. J., Bargnesi, F., Barone, M., Colloca, F., Ferretti, F., ... &amp; Moro, S. (2020). Species diversity, taxonomy and distribution of Chondrichthyes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. <em>The European Zoological Journal</em>, <em>87</em>(1), 497-536. <br>