This dataset contains fish eDNA sequences from the 12S mitochondrial gene. eDNA has been collected in 100 stations, 25 sites, in 5 tropical marine regions. Data collection was performed between 2017 and 2020.

Raw sequences have been processed through a bioinformatic pipeline, merged, demultiplexed, dereplicated, clustered as OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and assigned to a taxa.

The codes to analyse the data can be found at : https://github.com/virginiemarques/Global_eDNA.

The data are used to study the patterns of tropical fish distributions across spatial scales, using two different methodologies, eDNA and visual census.

The sampling in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Polynesia and the sequencing were funded by Monaco Explorations. Fieldwork in Indonesia and laboratory activities were supported by the Lengguru 2017 Project (www.lengguru.org), conducted by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) with the Research Center for Oceanography (RCO), the Politeknik Kelautan dan Perikanan Sorong), the University of Papua (UNIPA) with the help of the Institut Français in Indonesia (IFI) and with corporate sponsorship from the Total Foundation and TIPCO company. Fieldwork and laboratory activities in New-Caledonia were supported by the projects ANR SEAMOUNTS and CIFRE REEF 3.0 conducted by the French National Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and GINGER-BURGEAP-SOPRONER company. Fieldwork and laboratory activities in Colombia were supported by ETH Global grant and the project Reefish, conducted in collaboration with the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras – INVEMAR.