Biomass density and catch composition of mesopelagic fish and invertebrates in the Northeast Atlantic

During three cruises in the Mid Atlantic Ridge area in 2016 and 2017, we studied the biomass of mesopelagic fish down to a depth of 600 m and identified and quantified the species composition of the catches. The biomass density was estimated considering the volume of water filtered by the cross-sectional area of the trawl blinded with 16 mm meshes (130 m–2), the distanced covered by the trawl (m) at a towing speed (transformed to m s–1) the effective tow time (min) and the catch (kg).