Dataset collating kelp occurrences (presences and absences) from surveys conducted across the Azores archipelago (NE Atlantic) using remotely operated vehicles, drop-down cameras, open and closed-circuit SCUBA diving, and fisheries by-catch information.

Circalittoral faunal turfs are animal-dominated shelf assemblages that are found on hard substrata between the lower limit of the infralittoral zone and the shelf edge. Benthic organisms generally form dense intricate mixes that may include tall alcyonarians, sponges, hydroids, scleractinians and gorgonians, as well as less prominent fauna such as encrusting sponges, bryozoans, ascidians, bivalves, solitary cup corals, serpulid worms and vermetid gastropods.

Rhodoliths is a general term used to designate non-geniculate coralline red algae (Rhodophyta) that live unattached (Riosmena-Rodríguez, 2017). The term is used here to encompass (i) branched free-living coralline algae devoid of an evident nucleus, but also (ii) nucleated nodules where the biogenic calcium carbonate deposit around the core represents >50%, as well as (iii) “coated grains” where the core is larger than the algal carbonate component.