Zooplankton community metabarcodes from the eastern Clarion Clipperton Zone

This study characterizes pelagic zooplankton communities in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone (NORI-D exploration claim) using DNA metabarcoding. Zooplankton were collected with a 1m2 MOCNESS from 0-1500m across 9 depth strata during 2 cruises in Fall and Spring 2021 at two sites: the Preservation Reference Zone (PRZ) and the Collector Test Area (CTA). A 1/8 quantitative subsample of the material was allocated for metabarcoding analysis, separated into 2 size fractions (0.2-1.0 mm; >1.0 mm) and gene fragments of COI and 18S rRNA V1-V2 were amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq using V3 chemistry with paired-end reads. Data are organized under a single BioProject, with separate SRAs for COI and 18S.