eDNA-derived metagenomic biodiversity data from seamount sediments of the northeastern Arabian Sea, India

This dataset comprises environmental DNA-derived metagenomic observations from two deep-sea seamount sediment samples collected from the northeastern Arabian Sea during FORV Sagar Sampada Cruise No. 404 in 2024. Sediment from the upper 0–5 cm layer was collected in triplicate at each station using a Smith-McIntyre grab sampler and pooled into one composite sample per site. DNA was extracted from pooled sediments and sequenced using Oxford Nanopore technology. Trimmed reads were taxonomically classified using Kraken2 against the NCBI non-redundant database, and associated physicochemical and pigment measurements were obtained for each site. The source study describes bacterial, archaeal, fungal, protistan, metazoan, plant-associated, and viral signals, while also emphasizing that multicellular eDNA in sediments may partly reflect deposited DNA from the overlying water column rather than resident benthic organisms. The dataset provides baseline biodiversity information for Arabian Sea seamount sediments and supports future marine biodiversity informatics, eDNA synthesis, and sequence-linked occurrence publication workflows.