Villefranche-sur-Mer in stormy weather, winter 2011 - Photo : J.-M. Grisoni
Crab larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Plankton
Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Illustration in synthesized images of the seasons of the ocean: a year from the Antarctic - Animation Clement Fontana
Squid larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the Mediterranean Sea.
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
Colony of diatoms genus Bacillaria whose single cells slide against each other (Video : Sophie Marro)
The seasonal evolution of the chlorophyll a concentration as seen by a « water color » satellite (SeaWifs) in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mollusk (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)
Profiling float (Photo : David Luquet)
Gelatinous plankton Mneniopsis (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
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 reflexum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium candelabrum var depressum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
This video describes how to perform the Ludion experiment and explains the physical processes involved.
