ARMS-MBON is a marine biodiversity observation network (MBON) that uses Autonumous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) to sample the hard-bottom communities in near-coast environments.  A network of (currently) 23 partners spread over Europe and Antarctica place their ARMS units in their marine stations, ports, marinas, and Long-Term Ecological Research sites. The units are left for a few to several months and are colonised by the local hard-bottom communities; they are then brought up, photographed, and the material sent for genetic analysis. The resulting data (sampling and event metadata, the photographs, manual observations, and the 18S, CO1, ITS sequences) are open access after 6 months of the sequences being archived in ENA. 

ARMS-MBON data are published via 

• Its metadata record in IMIS, with updates roughly every year (i.e. after one or two sampling events) and with the spreadsheet of data and the documentation being available. The image links and sequence accession numbers are included in the data spreadsheet. 
• Its GitHub site, which has more frequent updates and a wider range of data formats can be found (e.g. for more friendly developer-access). Note: this GitHub site is still (2022) under development. 

ARMS-MBON was funded by the ASSEMBLE Plus project (see its webpage here). As this project ended in 2022, ARMS-MBON will continue as a collective effort of its partners but also within EMBRC's EMO BON programme.