TimeFISH: Long-term assessment of reef fish assemblages in a transition zone in the Southwestern Atlantic.

The TimeFISH database provides the first public time-series dataset on reef fish assemblages in the southwestern Atlantic (SWA), comprising 15 years of data (2007-2022) based on standardized Underwater Visual Censuses (UVCs). The rocky reefs covered by our dataset are influenced by pronounced seasonal cycles of ocean temperatures with warm tropical waters from the Brazil Current in the summer (~27°C) and colder waters from the La Plata River Plume discharge and upwelling from the South Atlantic Central Water in the winter (~18°C). These oceanographic conditions characterize this area as the southernmost tropical-subtropical climatic transition zone in the Atlantic Ocean.

A safe haven for potential reproductive aggregations of the critically endangered Brazilian guitarfish (Pseudobatos horkelii).

Brazilian endemic batoid elasmobranch populations have declined dramatically in the past 40 years due to anthropic activities (e.g., overfishing).