Colony of salps Salpa fusiformis (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

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)

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)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium reflexum (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo  (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)

Underwater glider (Photo : David Luquet)

Annelid worm (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Jellyfish Leuckaztiara octona (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Les mésocosmes déployés dans la rade de Villefranche en face de l'observatoire océanologique de Villefranche (© L. Maugendre, LOV)

Crab Zoea larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Amphipode crustacean  (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Siphonophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Underwater glider (Photo : David Luquet)

Diatom genus Hemiaulus (Photo : Sophie Marro)