Abstract--There is increasing interest in the potential impacts that fishing activities have on megafaunal benthic invertebrates occurring in continental shelf and slope ecosystems. We examined how the structure, size, and high-density aggregations of invertebrates provided structural relief for fishes in continental shelf and slope ecosystems off southern California. We made 112 dives in a submersible at 32-320 m water depth, surveying a variety of habitats from high-relief rock to ...
<1 m), 2=moderate (1-5 m), or 3=high relief (>