Ecosystem models often use wet weights to parameterise biota disregarding their water content. This may be especially erroneous for gelatinous plankton, such as salps and pyrosomes, with high, compared to crustaceans, water content. Poorly quantified residual water should also be corrected when using dry weights for parameterisation. We estimated the residual water content (as well as elemental and organic contents) for seven tunicate species, one pyrosome and six salps (N = 107). Specimens were collected during several research expeditions in the Southern Ocean, the Northeast Pacific, east of New Zealand, and around Hawaii between 2004 and 2021. The residual water content of tunicates was analyzed for inter- and intraspecific variability. The H-surplus method (Madin et al. 1981) was applied for the residual water content calculation. The dataset contains information about the life cycle stage (blastozooid versus oozooid), tissue type (tunic versus whole organism), drying method (oven versus freeze-drying), size, and the elemental and organic contents of the samples. The methods and results of the study are described in detail in Lüskow et al. (submitted).

Instruments used for: Freeze-drying: Edwards Modulyo Freeze Dryer (Oakville, Ontario, CA) Weighing: analytical balance (Sartorius BP 211 D, Perkin Elmer AD-6)* CNH analysis: Elemental Analyzer CHN, Perkin Elmer 2400 Series II