• Site description (1 per year)
  
  
• Fish survey (size and identity) (18 fish transect, 6 core and 12 fish-only)
  
      - The density, size distribution and sex (where possible) of target fish species will be counted along each 30 x 2 x 2 meter transect.


• Invertebrate band transect (6 transects surveyed in spring and fall)
  
      - The density of selected conspicuous, solitary, and mobile invertebrates will be counted along each  of the 6 core 30 x 2 meter band transect.


• Seaweed band transect (6 transects surveyed in spring and fall)
  
      - The density of selected conspicuous macro algae will be estimated along each of the 6 core 30 x 2 meter band transect. Four invasive algal species (Caulerpa. taxifolia, Sargassum. muticum, S. filicinum and Undaria. pinnatifida) will be noted, as present or absent anywhere on the site.


• Substrate Uniform Point Contact (UPC) (6  transects surveyed in spring and fall)
  
     - Sampling of substrate type, cover (i.e, sessile invertebrates or algae) and rugosity (vertical relief) will occur at 30 uniformly spaced points at every meter along each of the 6 core 30 m transect line.


• Urchin size frequency survey (1 per site in spring and fall)
  
     - The sizes of 100 red and purple urchins will be sampled to generate a size frequency distribution of the respective urchin populations at each site where densities are high enough to obtain the sample size.

• Ease of identification
• Commonly observed by divers in shallow subtidal rocky reef habitat
• Species of special interest or concern (i.e., protected species, species known to be endangered, overfished and/or seriously depleted)
• Species commonly targeted by recreational and commercial fishing activities
• Ecologically important species

Following extensive field testing, the draft species list was revised and the Final Reef Check California species lists were created containing 31 species and 1 order of invertebrates, 35 fish species, 8 species and 1 genus of algae.

Reef Check California will not have separate target species lists for distinct geographic regions in California.  Although we recognize the distinct biological breaks along the California coast and associated differing composition of species, separate species lists would limit the ability of the monitoring program to detect subtle shifts in target species geographic ranges.  In addition, a single species list will permit volunteers trained in any part of the State to participate in surveys along the entire coast.