Occurrence of Five Non-Native and Invasive Taxa on Natural and Artificial Reefs Within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Résumé fourni par la source

This dataset documents the occurrence of five (5) selected non-native and potentiallyinvasive marine taxa at natural and artificial sites within the Florida Keys NationalMarine Sanctuary (FKNMS). Surveys were conducted between July 2025 and August2026 by SCUBA divers or snorkelers during daylight hours using a roving-diverapproach. Taxa were selected because they are either known to have an alreadydocumented presence within the FKNMS, have been recently identified in nearby waters,or because they may or may not pose threats to native species, so a better understandingof their occurrence at sites within the sanctuary is needed.This dataset contains the date surveyed, site name, and the GPS coordinates of a total of62 unique sites within the FKNMS that were visited, as well as the presence or absenceof the target taxa, and other site specific information including substrate type andmaximum depth surveyed. The dataset further categorizes the sites as natural (46) orartificial sites (16), and shallow (46) or deep sites (16), and uses a binary code (1/0) todocument the presence or absence of the target taxa, respectively.At least 1 target alien species was recorded during 22 surveys (35.5%). Pterois spp.observation occurred during 18 surveys (29.0%), and Tubastraea spp. were observedduring 9 surveys (14.5%). No Xeniids or H. stipulacea were documented at any site.Target taxa were present at 10 of 40 natural–shallow sites, 2 of 6 natural–deep sites, 0 ofthe 6 artificial–shallow sites, and all 10 artificial–deep sites.

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