The benthic communities of the West Florida Shelf (WFS) are generally under-characterized, and can vary with setting (spatial) and changing ocean (temporal) conditions. The health of the WFS benthos has direct implications for tourism and recreational and commercial fishing economies. A collaborative study with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s Harmful Algal Bloom (FWRI-HAB) Group was conducted to establish potential relationships between the benthos and algal blooms. This study takes a two-pronged approach: 1) broad spatial coverage from sediment grab samples and CTD data collected on an FWRI-HAB research cruise in April 2025 at 40 different locations, and 2) a time series of grab samples from 2022-2025. The study area, spanning from 28.3°N to 26.2°N, included seven E-W transect lines extending up to 50nm offshore. Multiple parameters of benthic ecological quality status (EQS) measured in each grab sample will be presented, including sedimentology, benthic foraminifera density and diversity indices (Abundance, Shannon, Fisher’s Alpha, Evenness), along with a marine biotic index of benthic health (f-AMBI, AZTI Marine Biotic Index) calibrated explicitly for the WFS. Our results indicate higher benthic foraminifera diversity, richness, and evenness, accompanied by high AMBI values (2.5, good EcoQS) in nearshore areas, which decreases to 0.39 (high EcoQS) further offshore. The nearshore benthic foraminifera community, with an AMBI score of 2.5, has a lower ecological quality status than offshore areas and is characterized by fewer sensitive species. Offshore, where the AMBI score decreases to 0.39, the presence of more sensitive species is more pronounced, consistent with a higher ecological quality status. There is also a positive correlation with abundance of sensitive species and species richness with coarser grain sediments (sand percentage) in both the spatial and temporal records.  Establishing an understanding of WFS benthic communities and their response to various environmental factors (storms, HABs, seasonal change, pollutants, etc.) can provide insight into their role in the ecological health of the WFS.