DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ncjsxkt3z
title: CERSE: Central and Eastern Red Sea Elasmobranchs

description: Elasmobranch populations in the Red Sea are declining due to intense
 fishing activity. Effective conservation requires informed management
 strategies, yet our understanding of their distribution in the basin is
 limited. This study introduces CERSE (Central and Eastern Red Sea
 Elasmobranchs), the most extensive compilation of elasmobranch data in the
 Central and Eastern Red Sea. Gathering information from scientific
 cruises, surveys, and literature, we recorded 2847 sightings using various
 methods. This dataset is vital for assessing elasmobranch populations and
 will guide future research and conservation efforts in the region.
description: This study encompasses a total of 2847 sightings recorded through
 different techniques. The data come from surveys conducted during two
 scientific cruises, The Red Sea Decade Expedition (RSDE) and the Southern
 Red Sea Expedition (SRSE), a time-series survey from The Red Sea Project
 area (RSG), and information extracted from literature.
description: # CERSE: Central and Eastern Red Sea Elasmobranchs ## 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.