Siphonophore (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Ptéropodes - Mollusques qui nagent
Les papillons des mers construisent de fragiles coquilles. Résisteront-elles à l’acidification des océans?
Phronimes - Monstres des tonneaux
Recyclant salpes et méduses, la femelle phronime construit des tonneaux gélatineux et y élève sa progéniture.
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.
Remote-controlled sailboat
Les Dinoflagellés - Ceratium hexacanthum
chaîne de Ceratium hexacanthum qui restent les uns à la suites des autres au fur et à mesure des divisions.
Le mouvement des flagelles est bien visible.
Sea Urchin - Planktonic Origins
Barely visible to the naked eye, sea urchin larvae grow and transform into bottom-dwelling urchins.
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.
Plankton
Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
Annelid worm (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
This video describes how to perform the Ludion experiment and explains the physical processes involved.
Siphonophores Forskalia formosa (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)
Villefranche-sur-Mer in stormy weather, winter 2011 - Photo : J.-M. Grisoni
Embryos and larvae
Drifting in the currents, embryos and larvae perpetuate the species and are food for multitudes.
Velella - Planktonic Vessels
Colonies of polyps transported by prevailing winds, velella drift at the surface of warm seas.