Taxa occurrences from dive imagery surveys conducted in 2025 in proposed marine conservation network sites surrounding Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

Anns Bank Marine Protected Area. The survey was planned to investigate complex benthic habitat features under challenging conditions of current, temperature, and visibility.

While these characteristics contribute to a diversity of habitat types and species over small geographic areas, they also challenge methods for data gathering and assessment. A total of 15 habitat types were documented at depths ranging from 4 to 34.3 m, resulting in 275 data records of occurrence for 73 taxa across ten major taxonomic groups. Many of these locations exhibited a mix of shallow and deep bedrock substrate.