The main goal of project CINCS was to achieve a better understanding of the structure and function of the oligotrophic Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean) ecosystem and to investigate its pelagic-benthic coupling efficiency in space and time. In order to do so, an intense multidisciplinary seasonal investigation was carried out over a shelf to slope transect (with 7 standard depth stations at 40,100, 200, 540, 700, 940 and 1570 m depth). The wealth of information produced was enormous and many of the tasks were conducted for the first time ever in the E. Mediterranean Sea.