The NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center has, through the years, accumulated an extensive data base of qualitative and quantitative (wet weight and number per square meter) data on the composition, distribution and abundance (including a variety of environmental measurements) of the macrobenthic invertebrate fauna of the U.S.east coast continental shelf, slope and upper rise ranging from the mouth of the Bay of Fundy to Key West, Florida.

Benthic fauna data has been collected from 1881 to the present by the National Marine Fisheries Service Laboratories at Woods Hole, MA (early years Bureau of Fisheries) and Sandy Hook, NJ (formerly with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries). Little data exists from 1881 to around 1955. After intensive sampling, data became sparse again after 1986. The data includes the work by Wigley and Theroux on the macrofauna of the Northeastern United States. Other major studies include Ocean Pulse, the Northeast Monitoring Program, New York Bight, 12 Mile Dumpsite, Long Island Sound and Raritan Bay surveys. Parameters included in these surveys include depth, sediment type, gear type, number, weight, family, class, genus, species name, and abundance. A total of 21,000 sample sites are included in this data set with 4,000 meters being the maximum depth sampled. Bottom temperature from MBTs and XBTs were measured from the 1960s to the present.