This dataset includes measured and calculated data over the epipelagic layer (0-200 m depth) of 25 stations with 14 of them inside or in the vicinity of a cyclonic eddy that formed off Mauritania along the ∼ 900 km zonal corridor between Mauritania and the Cabo Verde islands in the eastern Tropical North Atlantic during the M156 cruise on the RV Meteor from July 3rd to August 1st 2019. To estimate the fraction of semi-labile dissolved organic carbon, we determined high-molecular-weight (>1 kDa) dissolved combined carbohydrates (dCCHO) based on Engel and Händel (2011, https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbq122) and dissolved hydrolysable amino acids (dHAA) based on Lindroth and Mopper (1979, https://https://doi.org/10.1021/ac50047a019) and Dittmar et al, (2009). The analysis of DCCHO detected 11 monomers: and the dHAA analysis classified 13 monomers. The calculations for the carbon content of dCCHO and dHAA were based on carbon atoms contained in the identified monomers. The sum of dCCHO and dHAA carbon content is referred to as SL-DOC. Community respiration was obtained from optode-based method from incubations by measuring changes in dissolved oxygen over 24–36 h. Community respiration and bacterial biomass production were converted to rates at 22°C using equations from Regaudie-De-Gioux and Duarte (2012, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GB003907) and from López-Urrutia and Morán (2007, https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1641) respectively. Community respiration rates were converted to bacteria respiration rates based on Aranguren-Gassis et al, (2012, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09707).