Diversity of hydrothermal vent macrofaunal communities along the southwestern Pacific back-arc basins

This dataset provided a list of hydrothermal vent taxa indentified in the Southwest Pacific. Vent community samples were collected at four back-arc basins (Manus, Woodlark, North Fiji and Lau) and one volcanic arc (Futuna) during the CHUBACARC oceanographic cruise (March-June 2019) on board of the French Research Vessel L’Atalante. Three vent habitats located from low to high diffuse flow areas and identified according to their dominant engineer species were sampled: the Bathymodiolus, the Ifremeria and the Alviniconcha assemblages. Engineer species were collected using the hydraulic arm of the ROV Victor6000 and placed in a thermally isolated box. When possible, sampling was completed with a suction device to collect the associated small organisms and mobile epifauna. A total of 60 samples (box collections) were obtained, 42 of which included suction sampling. On board, samples were washed through a 250 µm sieve with filtered seawater to collect all the fauna. This fauna was sorted and preserved in 96% ethanol. In the laboratory, individuals were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible, in general the morphospecies.