Seasonality and relative abundance within an elasmobranch assemblage near a major biogeographic divide

Nearshore waters are utilized by elasmobranchs in various ways, including foraging, reproduction, and migration. Multiple elasmobranch species have been previously documented in the nearshore waters of North Carolina, USA, which has a biogeographic break at Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast. However, comprehensive understanding of the elasmobranch community in this region is still lacking. Monthly year-round trawling conducted along two ocean transects (near Cape Lookout and Masonboro Inlet in 5 to 18 m depth) in Onslow Bay, North Carolina provided the opportunity to examine the dynamics and seasonal patterns of this community using a multivariate approach, including permutational multivariate analysis of variance and nonparametric BIO-ENV analysis. From November 2004 to April 2008, 21,149 elasmobranchs comprised of 20 species were caught, dominated by spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and clearnose skate (Rostroraja eglanteria). All species exhibited seasonal variation in abundance, ..., For a complete description of this dataset, please refer to our publication in Plos One. Briefly, elasmobranchs were surveyed with a bottom trawl on a monthly basis between November 2004 and April 2008. Sampling was conducted during all months of the year, although certain months are missing during specific years due to funding limitations. Sampling was conducted along two transects that extended from 0.4 to 8 km from shore, one transect was just west of Cape Lookout, the second was north of Cape Fear off Masonboro Inlet. All elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) were counted by species, and up to 30 individuals of each species was measured for length and sexed. This dataset consists of the raw catch data of elasmobranchs, including numbers by species, and lengths and sex of a subsample (no subsample if n < 30 for a give haul and species). , , # Data from: Seasonality and relative abundance within an elasmobranch assemblage near a major biogeographic divide

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9zj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9zj)

This dataset consists of the raw bottom trawl catch data of elasmobranchs from the monthly survey (2004 - 2008) off North Carolina. This dataset is associated with the Plos One publication \"Seasonality and relative abundance within an elasmobranch assemblage near a major biogeographic divide\" (Roskar et al.).

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset is in .xlsx format. The columns in the file are described below.

'haul' - the code used to identify individual trawl hauls, which were sequentially numbered. This survey in North Carolina, U.S.A. included multiple gear types, but only the bottom trawl data are provided here. Because hauls from other gear types were not included here, haul numbers are not always continuous (e.g., they start at #108).

'location' - identifies ...