Study on meiobenthos and nematode communities (counts, density, biomass, genus composition) collected in the Arctic Ocean in August and September 1991. The data were digitized by VLIZ from the original report: Jivaluk, J. (1993). Comparative study of the meiobenthos in the Arctic region. MSc Thesis. RUG: Gent. 135 pp.

The meiofauna and nematode communities have been studied in multiple corer samples collected from seven stations in the Arctic Ocean (the Lomonosov Ridge, the Amundsen Basin and the Morris Jesup Rise). Samples were taken at depths ranging between 1072-4273 m using different mesh sizes. Most of the animals are found in the uppermost centimeter of the sediment and their densities decrease with increasing depth into the sediment. The nematode communities are dominated by species of the families Monhysteridae, Linhomoeidae, Chromadoridae and Leptolaimidae. Monhystera has the highest density followed by Metalinhomoeus, Leptolaimus and Acantholaimus. Most of the nematodes which are retained on the 125 and 250 µm mesh are adults. At the smaller mesh (32 and 63 µm) the number of adult increases with increasing water depth.