This dataset describes the taxonomic identification and molecular barcoding of the five species of sea cucumber (three common and two very rare species) identified from diver-collected samples in Ryder Bay near Rothera Research Station, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, in 2012 and 2021. Specimens of each species were registered and taxonomic identification performed at the Museums Victoria, Melbourne, Australia with additional molecular barcoding performed using the cytochrome c oxidase sub unit 1 (CO1) gene at the British Antarctic Survey. This study was funded by core funding to UKRI NERC-BAS.

In-situ underwater images were gathered during the expedition JR17003a of RRS James Clark Ross to the eastern Antarctic Peninsula in March 2018. The BAS' Shallow Underwater Camera System (SUCS) has been used to estimate faunal density, biomass and species abundance of the benthos and to provide an overview of the conditions of the underwater landscape. Funding was provided by NERC urgency grant NE/R012296/1 'Benthic biodiversity under Antarctic ice-shelves - baseline assessment of the seabed exposed by the 2017 calving of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf'.