Santa Barbara Channel fish surveys at deep reefs: Footprint, Piggy Bank, Anacapa Passage

The dataset contains fish surveys from deep natural reefs in the
northern Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Southern California, mainly at
reefs named Piggy Bank, Footprint (local names) and Anacapa Passage.
Data collection began in 1995. Reefs are located at depths between 30
and 360 m (100 and 1,180 feet). Sampling was by the manned
submersibles Delta and DualDeepworker and an unmanned Remotely Operated
Vehicle (ROV). These sites included a wide range of such habitats as
banks, ridges, and carbonate reefs, ranging in size from a few
kilometers in length to less than a hectare in area. On these
features, we focused on hard bottom macro­habitats, including kelp
beds, boulder and cobble fields, and bedrock outcrops. Transects were
not deliberately revisited; some reefs were surveyed as many as four
times per year. All transects are 2 m wide; transect length varied
(see data). The dataset includes two tables: (1) the fish counts at Piggy Bank,
Footprint, and Anacapa Passage; and (2), the habitat associated with
each of the survey segments. Fishes were identified to lowest possible
taxon (usually species), and verified against the WoRMs database
( http://www.marinespecies.org/ ).