Diatoms - Life in glass houses
Champions of photosynthesis, these unicellular organisms appeared at the time of dinosaurs.They produce a quarter of the oxygen we breathe.
Ctenaria Lampetia pancerina (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Siphonophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Acantharia (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium fusus (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Vue sous-marine d'un groupe de mésocosmes montrant un plongeur récoltant les pièges à sediment (© Stareso)
Diatom genus Cylindrotheca (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Siphonophores - The longest animals on the planet
Cousins of corals, siphonophores are colonies of specialized individuals called zoids. Some catch and digest their prey, others swim, or lay eggs or sperm.
Instrumented buoy (Photo : Emilie Diamond)
Amphipode crustacean (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Gelatinous plankton Pelagia and Ctenophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Mollusk (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium ranipes grd mains (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium falcatum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Préparation des mésocosmes sur le ponton du laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche lors de l'expérience menée en rade de Villefranche en février 2013 (© L. Maugendre, LOV)
Phytoplankton bloom observed in the Barents Sea (North of Norway) in August 2010 by the ocean color sensor MODIS onboard NASA satellite Aqua. Changes in ocean color result from modifications in the phytoplankton composition and concentration. The green colors are likely associated with the presence of diatoms. The shades of light blue result from the occurrence of coccolithophores, phytoplankton organisms that strongly reflect light due to their chalky shells - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
