Abyssal benthopelagic zooplankton community metabarcodes from the eastern Clarion Clipperton Zone

These DNA metabarcoding data derive from zooplankton collected within the abyssal benthic boundary layer (BBL) in the eastern Clarion Clipperton Zone (NORI-D exploration claim). Zooplankton was collected using in-situ plankton pumps mounted on an autonomous benthic lander during 2 cruises: Fall and Spring 2021. 1/4 of the material collected on each deployment (1/2 of PumpA) was PCR amplified for mtCOI, 18S V1-V2, and 18S V7-V8 and sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq run (300-bp, paired-end).