Description: Pelagic video transects with the Pelagic In-Situ Observation System (PELAGIOS, (Hoving et al., 2019a)) were conducted during the cruises MSM49 (Christiansen et al., 2016) (transects between 30 and 1000 m, total towing duration 〉 80h), MSM61 (Fiedler et al., 2020) (transects between 80 and 1200 m, total hours of observations 〉 32h), POS520 (Hoving et al., 2018, p. 520) (transects between 30 and 2500 m, total hours of observations 27h), POS532 (Hoving et al., 2019b) (transects between 30 and 990 m, total hours of observations 19h) and M119 (Brandt, 2016) (transects between 50 and 700 m, total hours of observations 〉 20h) between 2015 and 2019 (Figure 1). PELAGIOS is a battery powered, high-definition camera system that is towed horizontally via a single-wired conductive sea-cable at 0.5 m s -1. Around 0.45 m2 of the water column in front of the camera is illuminated with an LED array. The attached depth sensor and/or a sensor for conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) with oxygen sensor allows for hydrographic measurements and depth monitoring during transects. Pelagic video transects were conducted between 11-33 minutes per depth, towing the camera horizontally at specified depths. A deep-sea telemetry system allows for transmission of a low-resolution preview of the recorded video. During the cruises POS520 and POS532 the manned submersible JAGO (GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research) was used for 30 deployments of about four hours each between the surface and 350 m water depth. During the dives, video was recorded by a high-resolution camera. The videos taken during the PELAGIOS and JAGO dives were annotated manually using the Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS) developed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, which allows annotation and congruent collection of video frames. We also provide raw data on environmental DNA samples taken during POS532 in February 2019 at five stations. The stations off the islands Santo Antão and Fogo were close to the coast (maximum sampled depth 2500 m), CVOO was a reference station in the open ocean (maximum sampled depth 3000 m) and the stations Cyclone and Anticyclone were located eddies that had formed in the wake of Fogo and had propagated southwards (maximum sampled depths 2200 and 600 m, respectively). Per sampled depth, three biological replicates of two liters of seawater each were collected from three different 10 liter Niskin bottles mounted on a CTD rosette. For filtration, 0.22 µm pore size Sterivex-GP filter (Merck Millipore) were directly connected to the Niskin bottle with sterile tubing. The weight of the water in the Niskin bottles was sufficient to filter two liters of seawater per filter. The filters were closed with sterile plastic caps and stored at -80°C until further processing in the laboratory.