The Desafio research cruise was carried out on the research vessel (RV) Sarmiento de Gamboa, which departed from Vigo, Spain on February 1st 2023 and returned to port at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on March 2nd 2023. The survey included eleven 48-hour stations, with approximately 12-hour transits in between the stations. The stations were sampled in descending order (starting at station 11 and ending at station 1). The first station (station 11) was reached on February 7th, 2023. This dataset contains echosounder observations collected underway ( to a maximum depth of 2000 m) and on station using a Simrad (Bergen) EK80 echosounder operating at five frequencies (18, 38, 70, 120, and 200 kHz). The echosounders were calibrated and the settings applied prior to departure.