*2.3. Benthic Analyses*

After counting fish, the first half (25 m length) of each transect was investigated to assess the substrate cover of corals, turf, and macroalgae and seagrass, and of other benthic organisms such as sea urchins. Photos of the substrate were taken from 1 m above the sea floor surface, with five photos being taken at intervals of 5 m per transect (camera: Canon Powershot G7 X Mark II with the Fantasea underwater housing). Because of limitations of time and resources, only a limited number of replicate quadrats could be sampled in this way. The photos of the benthos were analyzed with the assistance of the Coral Point Count (CPC) software [48]. The program was set to generate 25 random points on each image, the substrates below each of which were then classified by the observer into 16 major benthic categories. From these values the percentage substrate covers of the following benthic categories were then calculated: "hard coral" (HC), "soft coral" (SC), "rubble" (RUB), "seagrass" (SGR), "sand" (SND), "macroalgae" (AMAC), "turf algae" (ATRF), "*Halimeda* algae" (AHAL), "dead coral" (DC), "recently dead coral" (RDC), "bare substrate" (BS), "unidentified/others" (UNID/OT), and "obstacles/tape/shadows" (OBS/TWS), in addition to the abundance of "herbivorous invertebrates" (INV), specifically of echinoids (sea urchins).
