Semi-quantitative records of benthic taxa from trawl samples taken in the wider Weddell Sea (Antarctica) during POLARSTERN cruises ANT VII/4, ANT IX/3, ANT XIII/3, ANT XV/3 and ANT XXI/2 between 1989 and 2004

The dataset comprises a total of 9,540 records of semi-quantitative data for 53 benthic invertebrate taxa and fish from 180 trawl samples (Agassiz trawl, bottom trawl, Rauschert dredge, benthopelagic trawl). The semi-quantitative data represent four categories regarding the frequency of occurrence of the benthic taxa (i.e. 0 = absent, 1 = rare, 2 = common and 3 = very common). The dataset was collected on the shelf and slope of the eastern Weddell Sea and Lazarev Sea, near Bouvet Island and the region at the north western tip of the Antarctic Peninsula (depth range: 64 - 2334 m) between 1989 and 2004 onboard "Polarstern". Cruises ANT VII/4 (1989), ANT IX/3 (1990/91), ANT XIII/3 (1996), ANT XV/3 (1998) and ANT XXI/2 (2003/2004) contributed to the data collection.