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.
Dinoflagellate Ceratium macroceros var macroceros (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Appendiculaires - Ils vivent dans leurs filets L’appendiculaire, proche ancêtre des vertébrés, fabrique des logettes aux filtres délicats à la fois résidence et filet de pêche.
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)
Plankton Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Dinoflagellate Ceratium candelabrum var depressum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Ciliate(Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Copepode Coryceide (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Large rosette sampler used in the "World Ocean Circulation Experiment". This rosette has 36 10-liter Niskin bottles, an acoustic pinger (lower left), an "LADCP" current profiler (yellow long tube at the center), a CTD (horizontal instrument at the bottom), and transmissometer (yellow short tube at the center). (Photo : L. Talley)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium reflexum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Dinoflagellés Ceratium massiliense var protuberans (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the Mediterranean Sea.
Siphonophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
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)
