Phytoplankton bloom observed by the ocean color sensor MODIS onboard NASA satellite Terra in May 2010. The bloom spreads broadly in the North Atlantic from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
Diatom species Odontella mobiliensis (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium praelongum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Salpes - La vie enchaînée
Bien que d’apparence primitive, les salpes sont de proches ancêtres des poissons. Lorsque les algues abondent, les salpes prolifèrent en de longues chaînes d’individus clonés.
Embryos and larvae
Drifting in the currents, embryos and larvae perpetuate the species and are food for multitudes.
Squid larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium arietinum var arietinum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Villefranche-sur-Mer in stormy weather, winter 2011 - Photo : J.-M. Grisoni
Mollusk (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellates Ceratium platycorne var platycorne (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : Emilie Diamond)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium paradoxides (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
Pelagia - Fearsome Jellyfish
Mauve jellies move in droves, their nasty stings feared by swimmers.
Gelatinous plankton salpes and Beroe (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Seasonal evolution of the chlorophyll a concentration as obtained by the ocean color sensor SeaWiFS in the Atlantic Ocean.
Average chlorophyll concentration in the surface ocean (from mi-September 1997 to August 2007) from the ocean color sensor SeaWiFS (NASA). Subtropical gyres, in the center of the oceanic basins, are characterized by very low concentrations of chlorophyll a (dark blue) - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
