Compilation of stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios of marine biota from the central and Northeast Atlantic, and the Mediterranean Sea

Bulk stable isotope ratios, primarily of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N), are increasingly used to examine predator-prey interactions and food web structure. We compiled δ13C and δ15N values of marine taxa from 56 published sources to support investigations on trophic interactions in mesopelagic food webs and assess the importance of mesopelagic organisms in the marine ecosystem. A total of 2095 records were collected, representing 8716 individual organisms from 349 unique species or genera sampled across the central and Northeast Atlantic, and the Mediterranean Sea, between 1905 and 2020. Records include 185 benthic and pelagic fish, 47 cephalopods, 31 marine mammals, 30 crustaceans, 26 elasmobranchs, 16 seabirds, 4 marine turtles, 4 jelly fish, 3 copepods, 2 salps, in addition to data from several organisms only identified to higher taxonomic ranks (family or above). The dataset includes isotopic ratios measured in the tissues or in the whole body of individual organisms, or mean values (and standard deviations) from pooled samples. Because lipids have more negative δ13C values relative to other major biochemical compounds in plant and animal tissues (DeNiro & Epstein, 1977), many studies correct for the lipid effect by extracting lipids from samples before analysis, or a posteriori, through mathematical corrections (Post, 2002). Therefore, δ13C values were reported as uncorrected, lipid-extracted, or mathematically-corrected. When available, the total organic carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) was included. For each data record, we also provided the sampling location, geographic coordinates, month and year of sample collection, method of sample collection, taxonomic ranks (phylum, class, order, family), number and size (or size range) of sampled organisms, as well as the reference and DOI of the original data source, for further details on the samples analysed and/or the analytical techniques used.