Dataset: Sample information for the metagenomes from the Gulf of Mexico collected on R/V Endeavor cruise EN509 in May 2012

Water column samples were collected during CTD casts from the May 2012 R/V Endeavour cruise EN509 and shotgun metagenomes were sequenced from the surface (~3 meters (m), the mixed layer (ML; 15-25m), the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM; 70-90m), below the DCM but above the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ; 100-150m), and the OMZ (200-400m) from three stations (2, 5, and 8) in the northwest GoM (Fig. 1A of Conrad et al., 2026).

Four additional metagenomes were sequenced from below the OMZ (Deep; 600, 1000, 1470 and 2107m) from station 5. Station 2 was near the edge of the Texas-Louisiana Shelf about 50 miles southeast from the mouth of the Mississippi river. Station 8 and 5 were over the TX-LA Slope about 190 and 270 mi. southeast of Galveston, TX with station 8 nearer the TX-LA Shelf and station 5 nearer the edge of the TX-LA slope. Fluorescence, oxygen, salinity, and temperature measurements were similar at all stations except salinity was lower (29.6 vs. 36 PSU) and fluorescence was increased (0.9 vs. 0.07 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m³) at the surface of station 2 while the fluorescence peak of the DCM layer was reduced (0.3 vs. 0.8 mg/m³) compared to stations 5 and 8 (Fig. 1B, C, D, and E of Conrad et al., 2026). Temperature and salinity were most similar for all samples from the ML and DCM while salinity was variable across surface samples and temperature and salinity were variable across aOMZ and OMZ samples (Fig. 1E of Conrad et al., 2026).