Revealing elasmobranch distributions in turbid coastal waters: insights from environmental DNA and particle tracking

Many sharks, rays, and skates are highly threatened and vulnerable to overexploitation, as such reliable monitoring of elasmobranchs is key to effective management and conservation. The mobile and elusive nature of these species makes monitoring challenging, particularly in temperate waters with low visibility. Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods present an opportunity to study these species in the absence of visual identification or invasive techniques. However, eDNA data alone can be difficult to interpret for species monitoring, particularly in a marine setting where its distribution can be influenced by water currents. In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of elasmobranch species in two Special Areas for Conservation (SAC) off the coast of Wales. We took monthly eDNA samples for one year (starting September 2020 and March 2022 for the northern and southern SACs, respectively), and used metabarcoding to reveal the presence of elasmobranch species. We combi..., , , # Revealing elasmobranch distributions in turbid coastal waters: insights from environmental DNA and particle tracking

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppcx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppcx)

## Description of the data and file structure

Revealing elasmobranch distributions in turbid coastal waters: insights from environmental DNA and particle tracking

Raw sequence FASTQ data from 8 experimental run files from Illumina MiSeq paired-end sequencing of the Elas02 barcode.

Files are named according to the sample location and date; \"`Site-Date_Sequencer information.fastq`\" i.e. AB-1020_S22_L001_R1_001.fastq is the data from site AB in October 2020

Where the Site is replaced by NegExt/NEG and NTC, it means negative extraction controls (DNA extraction control) and negative template controls (PCR control) respectively.

All samples were processed with a corresponding negative control, designated with a 0 after the sample location ID e.g. \"AB0_...\"

Sample locations are as follow...