Summary

The aim of the study is to address the alarming declines in elasmobranch populations in the central and eastern Red Sea. To develop effective conservation strategies, the study compiles extensive data on elasmobranch observations in the aforementioned regions. This data, gathered from scientific cruises, surveys, and peer-reviewed literature, represents the most comprehensive dataset on elasmobranchs in this area of the Red Sea.

Description of the data and file structure: CERSE.csv

CERSE contains general information on all the observations gathered for all the different datasets analyzed in this study (RSDE, SRSE, Literature, RSG), with taxonomic information at different levels (Group, Family, Genus, Species), depth, and coordinates of the record, pelagic habitat, survey method, Dataset of origin, environmental factors

*Date: date of recording (dd/mm/yy)
*Time: time of sighting in UTC (not available for all the sightings)
*Species is the identification at the species level (not available for all the sightings)
*Latitude: latitude of the observation (DD)
*Longitude: longitude of the observation (DD)
*Depth: water depth of observation (m)
*Group: Batoidea (rays) or Selachii (sharks)
*Family: identification at the Family level
*Genus: identification at the Genus level
*Pelagic zone: refers to the pelagic zone in which the observation was recorded
*Method: the mean through which the observation was gathered
*Dataset: dataset from which the observation comes from

 - Red Sea Decade Expedition (RSDE)
 - Literature (review of published literature) 
 - RSG (Red Sea Global Dataset, in The Red Sea Project area)
 - Southern Red Sea Expedition (SRSE) 
 

*Habitat_specifics: characteristics of the habitat in which the sighting was recorded (not available for all the sightings)
*Temperature: temperature (C°) at the time and depth of the observation (not available for all the sightings)
*Salinity: salinity (PSU) at the time and depth of the observation (not available for all the sightings)
*O2: oxygen values (mg/L) at the time and depth of the observation (not available for all the sightings)
*Video_Reference: code of the video of the observation contained in the zip file Cerse_Media (not available for all the sightings)
*Comment: any additional valuable information

Description of the data and file structure: CERSE_Media

Contains all the pictures and videos available from the RSDE and SRSE. The ID code is in the CERSE.csv file, below the column named Video_Reference

All the videos, images, and audio media obtained during the course of the RSDE are credited to the National Center of Wildlife, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.