The “Pipeta programme” (named after the Italian commercial trawler used; 300 HP; LOA = 26 m) was started in 1982 by the Laboratory of Marine Biology and Fisheries (LMBF, Italy) and the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (IOF, Croatia). The expedition was a fishery-independent trawl-survey of the demersal communities using a bottom otter-trawl net (wing mesh-size: 55 mm; cod-end mesh-size: 22 mm; foot-rope length: 41 m; head-rope length: 32 m). The survey was successively called GRUND programme and ended in 2007. The average towing speed was about 3.5 knots, and the sampling duration was 60 minutes. This dataset includes CPUE (n/h and kg/h) indexes for 187 benthic invertebrate species recorded between May 3rd 1982 (spring survey) and December 16th 1982 (autumn survey) at 61 stations. Species synonymies were updated according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Some species are grouped into multispecies categories that group taxonomically similar species, i.e. species of the same genus (e.g. Macropodia spp.). Information on bottom type was also reported at each station. The depth of each station was extracted from the EMODnet Digital Bathymetry. Three replicates of each haul were performed during spring survey, while during autumn two replicates of each haul were performed. In the database, the mean value of coordinates and CPUE are reported for each station (2,451 records).