This dataset present fish species counts in three 20x40 m transects. The surveys were conducted at the Uva Island coral reef (7o48’46”N, 81o45’35”W), Gulf of Chiriquí, Panama from 1980 to 2010 during both the wet and dry seasons. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/516234