Inventory of Gulf oceanic fauna data including species, weight, and measurements. Meg Skansi cruises from Jan. 25 - Sept. 30, 2011 in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

This data set includes the biological and environmental data for all of the species collected during the Meg Skansi cruises from Jan - Septemeber 2011. The main gear type used was a 10-m2 Multiple Opening Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS). The MOCNESS was fitted with 6 nets which were opened according to the following depth scheme when bottom depth allowed: net 0 from the surface to 1500m, net 1 from 1500-1200m, net 2 from 1200-1000m, net 3 from 1000-600m, net 4 from 600-200m, and net 5 from 200m to the surface. Two trawls were conducted at each station sampled to capture diel vertical migration information; one during daylight hours between 9am-2:30pm CDT, and the other at 9pm-2:30am CDT. A table of the taxonomic hierarchy used in the nekton database will be included with references to those scientific names recently updated which are not yet reflected by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (www.itis.gov)