Macrozooplankton and nekton were collected with a Rectangular Midwater Trawl 25 (RMT25) over several visits to the sustained observation location P3 (52.70 S, 40.26 W) in the northern Scotia Sea during November and December 2017. The work was carried out as part of the NERC Large Grant, COMICS (Controls on Mesopelagic Interior Carbon) on board the RRS Discovery (cruise DY086). The RMT25 net hauls sampled between 10 and 500 m depth, with the water column divided into 2 depth intervals (10-250 m and 250-500 m). A total of 6 hauls were obtained during 3 separate visits to station P3, each visit comprising a pair of hauls, of which one was carried out in nominal daytime and the other in nominal nighttime. Catches were immediately sorted on board and identified to the lowest taxonomic level feasible. Subsamples of the catches were retained, principally for subsequent biochemical and physiological analyses.

In total, 777 fish were caught, belonging to at least 23 species, with catches dominated by the myctophids Krefftichthys anderssoni, Gymnoscopelus braueri, Electrona antarctica and Protomyctophum tenesoni. The water column below 250m was dominated by Bathylagus spp. Temperate myctophid species, such as Protomyctophum parallelum and Protomyctophum andreyeshevi were also caught in small numbers. With regards macrozooplankton, the 250m-500m depth interval was dominated by the jellyfish, Atolla and Periphylla. The tunicate Salpa thompsoni and the euphausiids Euphausia triacantha and Thysanoessa spp. were also relatively abundant. Jellyfish still dominated catches in shallower waters (250m-10m), closely followed by euphausiids and Salpa thompsoni and chaetognaths. Themisto gaudichaudii and Parandania boecki were the most numerous amphipod species caught. Decapods were only caught in the deeper depth interval, both day and night.