Diatoms - Life in glass houses
Champions of photosynthesis, these unicellular organisms appeared at the time of dinosaurs.They produce a quarter of the oxygen we breathe.
Illustration in synthesized images of the seasons of the ocean: a year from the Antarctic - Animation Clement Fontana
Dinoflagellate Ceratium macroceros var macroceros (Photo : Sophie Marro)
The research vessel "Marion Dufresne"
Gelatinous plankton Pelagia and Ctenophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)
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.
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)
Mollusk (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Coccolithophore (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Radiolarians (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Velella - Planktonic Vessels
Colonies of polyps transported by prevailing winds, velella drift at the surface of warm seas.
Copepode Coryceide (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Elephant seal equipped with a sensor
Dinoflagellés Ceratium massiliense var protuberans (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
