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.
Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-JacquesPangrazi)
Larva of decapod crustacean (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Foraminifera Ruber (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : Emilie Diamond)
Gelatinous plankton Pelagia and Ctenophores(Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium arietinum var arietinum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Acantharia (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Diatom genus Chaetoceros(Photo : Sophie Marro)
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)
Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-JacquesPangrazi)
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.
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)