Southern Baltic (Gdansk Deep, southern part of Bornholm and Gotland Deeps and offshore area from Pomeranian Bight to Gulf of Gdansk). Coordinates: 14° 00'E to 19° 05'E, 56° 00'N to 59° 09'N.

Fauna abundance per unit area of the bed

The aim of this study was to classify the macrobenthic communities and to describe their structure. Samples were collected from a ship with a van Veen grab (0.1m**2, 23 kg), sieved through a 0.1mm sieve and preserved in 4% formaldehyde. Biomass was expressed as wet weight (including shells) per square metre. Triplicate samples were collected at each station. Altogether 365 samples (1095 grabs) were taken at 244 stations distributed in the depth range of 8 to 110m. The data set includes average values of abundance and biomass per station and information on geographical position, depth and sediment type. The data concerning abundance and biomass of infauna from sandy sediment could be possibly underestimated because of a relatively small penetration depth of the van Veen grab (6-8 cm).

National Marine Fisheries Research Institute
Kollataja 1
Gdynia

81-332
Poland