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Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus Randall & Harmelin-Vivien, 1977 (Fig. 10): the half-banded flasherwrasse of mesophotic habitats off Madagascar Paracheilinus hemitaeniatus is a rare brightly colored fish species sampled for the first time in 1972, at 45 m depth on the outer slope of the barrier-reef off Toliara, SW Madagascar. Created in 1961 as a branch of the SME, the marine station of Toliara (Tuléar) hosted many scientists who studied the coral reef communities and described a number of new species of marine organisms, contributing largely to improve our knowledge on coral reef diversity. The half-banded flasherwrasse is known only from the south-west of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar and Comoro Islands, where this elusive and beautiful species remains a ‘holy grail’ for photographers. It belongs to the Labridae, a highly diversified fish family, where sexual dimorphism is so pronounced that males, females and juveniles have often been described as separate species by early ichthyologists! Such color dimorphism is viewed as an adaptation to sexual selection and life in coral reefs, where it is more conspicuous than in other environments. Labrids play an important role in the trophic functioning of coral reefs due to their high abundance and diverse feeding behaviors, from small zooplanktivores, crustacean and mollusk feeders to large-sized piscivores. P. hemitaeniatus is a small (, Published as part of Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean & Verlaque, Marc, 2023, The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history, pp. 213-252 in Zootaxa 5249 (2) on page 238, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7687250, {"references":["Randall, J. E. & Harmelin-Vivien, M. (1977) A review of the labrid fishes of the genus Paracheilinus with description of two new species from the Western Indian Ocean. Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 436 (Zoologie, 306), 329 - 342."]}

Hemimysis speluncola Ledoyer, 1963 (Fig. 8): an unexpected model for Mediterranean climate change and evolutionary ecology Being among the first SME researchers to use SCUBA, in 1958 Laborel &Vacelet (1958) reported of surprisingly dense swarms of a small red mysid (Crustacea: Mysida) in the darkest reaches of a small underwater marine cave of the Bay of Marseille at Niolon. Closely resembling the well-known Atlantic species Hemimysis lamornae (Couch 1856), it was later recognized that such swarms were common in dark caves of the Marseille area, and that some of them were made of a new species, Hemimysis speluncola Ledoyer, 1963. For twenty years (1966–1986), the new species then became a model for behavioural ecology and ecophysiology, as it was found relatively easy to maintain in aquarium (e.g. Macquart-Moulin & Patriti 1966; Gaudy et al. 1980; Bourdillon & Castelbon 1983; Passelaigue & Bourdillon 1986). Among other things, H. speluncola displayed original horizontal circadian migrations in and out of caves to feed, in a way similar to the vertical migrations of deep-sea zooplankton. Suddenly, in the late 1990s, concomitant with the first marine heat wave and invertebrate mass mortalities recorded in the NW Mediterranean, Chevaldonné & Lejeusne (2003) provided evidence that, in most of its known geographic range, H. speluncola had vanished, gradually being replaced by the more thermophilic Hemimysis margalefi Alcaraz, Riera & Gili, 1986. This was the first documented Mediterranean warming-induced species shift and it triggered a series of studies on the Hemimysis species (many of which cryptic) present in the Atlantic-Mediterranean area, to investigate their molecular phylogeography and evolutionary history. Today, cave-dwelling Hemimysis, including the nowendangered H. speluncola, have become a model to study the effect of natural habitat fragmentation on population connectivity (Lejeusne & Chevaldonné 2006; Rastorgueff et al. 2014)., Published as part of Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean & Verlaque, Marc, 2023, The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history, pp. 213-252 in Zootaxa 5249 (2) on page 235, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7687250, {"references":["Ledoyer, M. (1963) Hemimysis speluncola n. sp. Mysidace nouvelle des grottes sous-marines obscures. Recueil des Travaux de la Station Marine d´Endoume, 30 (45), 77 - 81.","Laborel, J. & Vacelet, J. (1958) Etude des peuplements d'une grotte sous-marine du golfe de Marseille. Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanographique, 1120, 1 - 20.","Macquart-Moulin, C. & Patriti, G. (1966) Remarque sur la biologie d' Hemimysis speluncola, Ledoyer, mysidace sciaphile des grottes sous-marines obscures de la region de Marseille. Recueil des Travaux de la Station Marine d'Endoume, 56, 253 - 258.","Gaudy, R., Guerin, J. P. & Pagano, M. (1980) Ecophysiologie comparee des mysidaces Hemimysis speluncola Ledoyer (cavernicole) et Leptomysis lingvura G. O. Sars (non cavernicole). Respiration et excretion. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 44, 29 - 46. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / 0022 - 0981 (80) 90099 - 4","Bourdillon, A. & Castelbon, C. (1983) Influence des variations de temperature sur la geotaxie de deux especes de mysidaces. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 71, 105 - 117. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / 0022 - 0981 (93) 90067 - X","Passelaigue, F. & Bourdillon, A. (1986) Distribution and circadian migrations of the cavernicolous mysid Hemimysis speluncola Ledoyer. Stygologia, 2, 112 - 118.","Chevaldonne, P. & Lejeusne, C. (2003) Regional warming-induced species shift in north-west Mediterranean marine caves. Ecology Letters 6 (4), 371 - 379. https: // doi. org / 10.1046 / j. 1461 - 0248.2003.00439. x","Alcaraz, M., Riera, T. & Gili, J. M. (1986) Hemimysis margalefi sp. nov. (Mysidacea) from a submarine cave of Mallorca Island, western Mediterranean. Crustaceana, 50, 199 - 203. https: // doi. org / 10.1163 / 156854086 X 00214","Lejeusne, C. & Chevaldonne, P. (2006) Brooding crustaceans in a highly fragmented habitat: the genetic structure of Mediterranean marine cave-dwelling mysid populations. Molecular Ecology, 15, 4123 - 4140. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 294 X. 2006.03101. x","Rastorgueff, P. - A., Chevaldonne, P., Arslan, D., Verna, C. & Lejeusne, C. (2014) Cryptic habitats and cryptic diversity: unexpected patterns of connectivity and phylogeographical breaks in a Mediterranean endemic marine cave mysid. Molecular Ecology, 23 (11), 2825 - 2843. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / mec. 12776"]}

Peyssonnelia rosa-marina Boudouresque & Denizot, 1973 (Fig. 9): an unsuspected Mediterranean rose garden It is perhaps one of the most abundant seaweeds in the Mediterranean Sea, since it thrives from the infralittoral to the widely extended and widespread coastal detritic bottoms, in the circalittoral, where it is often dominant. It is also a particularly elegant macrophyte, resembling a calcified rosebud, hence its name, Peyssonnelia rosa-marina. Like many red algae, this seaweed can live in rather low irradiance down to ca. 100 m depth; it is an important producer of carbonate sediment and is furthermore an ecosystem engineer that takes a significant part in the construction of the coralligenous beds so characteristic of the Mediterranean. Yet, it has long been confused with its sister species, Peyssonnelia polymorpha, until the 1970s. It was then very surprising to realize that such an abundant, conspicuous, and well-characterized species, both by its morphology and anatomy, had been overlooked for so long., Published as part of Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean & Verlaque, Marc, 2023, The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history, pp. 213-252 in Zootaxa 5249 (2) on page 236, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7687250, {"references":["Boudouresque, C. F. & Denizot, M. (1973) Recherches sur le genre Peyssonnelia (Rhodophycees). I. Peyssonnelia rosa-marina sp. nov. et Peyssonnelia bornetii sp. nov. Giornale Botanico Italiano, 107 (1), 17 - 27. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / 0022 - 0981 (93) 90067 - X"]}

The Rhachotropis species (Fig. 12) of Mid-Atlantic Ridge deep-sea hydrothermal vents: R. flamina, R. licornia, R. pilosa Bellan-Santini, 2006 SME taxonomists also have taken part in the major adventure started with the 1977 discovery of deep-sea chemosynthetic animal communities. In the vicinity of hydrothermal vents of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 3 new species of Rhachotropis (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Eusiridae) were collected by sediment traps at 1700–2750 m depth: Rhachotropis flamina Bellan-Santini, 2006, Rhachotropis licornia Bellan-Santini, 2006, and Rhachotropis pilosa Bellan-Santini, 2006. With 63 species (Horton et al. 2021) this genus is found in all oceans with a large bathymetric distribution (0–7160 m) (L̂rz et al. 2018). It is the most common amphipod genus in bathyal and abyssal zones. Morphologically, Rhachotropis have a delicate body with slender pereiopods, long antennae and sometimes dorsal processes. However, some of them display antennae bearing complex and puzzling structures called calceoli (present in R. pilosa and R. licornia) that are believed to be part of sensory organs. Cuplike receptacles, arranged serially on the antennae, would act as non-visual sensory organs, ensuring the perception of sound and vibration stimuli by the amphipods. These likely mechanoreceptors are found in several amphipod species (Hurley 1980, Lincoln & Hurley 1981, Bellan-Santini 2015); some could be involved in the detection of mates, others to detect preys. However, at hydrothermal vents, they could also be a good way to locate active fluid emissions.

Glandiceps talaboti (Marion, 1876) (Fig. 7): a deep-sea worm with affinities to echinoderms and chordates (Hemichordata, Enteropneusta, Spengelidae) In July–October of 1875, Antoine-Fortuné Marion had undertaken a dredging inventory of the deep-sea bottom to the south-east of the Bay of Marseille, to complete his previous studies of the littoral zone (Marion 1873). These dredging efforts were realized thanks to the financial support of a group of his friends (Talabot, Benet, Renouard, Meilhac, Mazel, Gallas and Martin). Among the most interesting discoveries he made was a new enteropneust species from yellowish sticky mud at 350 m depth in the area then called “Plateau Marsilli”. First Enteropneusta from Provence at this time, it was shortly described by Marion in 1876 as Balanoglossus talaboti, to honour one of his friends and sponsors. Later, he gave a very complete description of the species, pink-coloured, cylindrical and composed of a short anterior and conical proboscis, a collar where the mouth opens, and a trunk (Marion, 1885, 1886). Marion could observe the animal alive, crawling on the sediment surface of an aquarium for several weeks and noticed the emission of thick mucus with iodine smell when the animal was disturbed. Later, Spengel (1893) studied the enteropneusts of the Bay of Naples and subdivided the genus Balanoglossus in four genera, assigning Marion’s species to the genus Glandiceps, even becoming its type-species. The Enteropneusta, although not speciesrich, are part of the Hemichordata and as such have a major evolutionary interest due to their close relationships with both Echinodermata and Chordata. Glandiceps talaboti is a Mediterranean endemic species. It was later collected in bathyal mud of the Cassidaigne and Lacaze-Duthiers canyons (DPR096 cruise, see photo, Zibrowius personal communication), possibly along Egyptian coasts near Alexandria, and also recently off Turkey (Çevik & Erguden 2005)., Published as part of Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean & Verlaque, Marc, 2023, The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history, pp. 213-252 in Zootaxa 5249 (2) on page 235, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7687250, {"references":["Marion, A. F. (1876) Dragages profonds au large de Marseille (Juillet-Octobre 1875). Note preliminaire. Revue des Sciences Naturelles, 4 (4), 469 - 477.","Marion, A. F. (1873) Recherches sur les animaux inferieurs du golfe de Marseille. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 5 (17), 1 - 23.","Marion, A. F. (1885) Sur deux especes de Balanoglossus. Comptes Rendus de l'Institut, 101, 1289 - 1291.","Marion, A. F. (1886) Etudes zoologiques sur deux especes d'Enteropneustes (Balanoglossus hacksi & Balanoglossus talaboti). Archives de Zoologie Experimentale & Generale, 4, 305 - 326.","Spengel, J. W. (1893) Die Enteropneusten des Golfes von Neapel. In: Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel und der angrenzenden Meeres-Abschnitte. Herausgegeben von der Zoologischen Station zu Neapel, Berlin, 756 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11517","Cevik, C. & Erguden, D. (2005) First record for two species [Balanoglossus clavigerus delle Chiaje, 1829, Glandiceps talaboti (Marion, 1876)] of the Phylum Hemichordata on the coast of Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 29, 141 - 145."]}

Schizoretepora hassi Harmelin, Bitar & Zibrowius, 2007 (Fig. 13): a mysterious bryozoan from the East Schizoretepora hassi is a cheilostomate bryozoan belonging to the Phidoloporidae, i.e. the family of the beautiful reteporid Reteporella grimaldii (Jullien, 1903), the so-called “lace coral” well-known of Mediterranean divers and which has been the first bryozoan in the world to be illustrated in the literature, by Rondelet in 1554. Among the bryozoans described from the material collected during surveys of the Station Marine d’Endoume, S. hassi is not the most spectacular and its features are only but typical of the family. It lives in shaded rocky habitats of the Lebanese littoral zone and has not yet been found anywhere else. What is surprising is that a Mediterranean species living in the shallow coastal zone with large, conspicuous colonies, had not been described before. The question of its status, steno-endemic of the Levantine Basin or Erythraean immigrant introduced in the Mediterranean, remains open. It was dedicated to Dr Hans Hass, Austrian biologist who was both a famous diving icon and a pioneer in scientific diving and underwater photography. In 1948, he also had written a thesis on the Mediterranean reteporids, collected by diving., Published as part of Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean & Verlaque, Marc, 2023, The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history, pp. 213-252 in Zootaxa 5249 (2) on page 240, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7687250, {"references":["Harmelin, J. - G., Bitar, G. & Zibrowius, H. (2007) Schizoretepora hassi sp. nov. (Bryozoa: Phidoloporidae) from Lebanon (Eastern Mediterranean) and reappraisal of Schizotheca serratimargo (Hincks, 1886). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 48 (2), 179 - 186.","Jullien, J. & Calvet, L. (1903) Bryozoaires provenant des campagnes de l'Hirondelle (1886 - 1888). Resultats des campagnes scientifiques accomplies sur son yacht par Albert Ier, prince souverain de Monaco, 23, 1 - 188."]}

Boury-Esnault, Nicole, Bellan, Gerard, Bellan-Santini, Denise, Boudouresque, Charles-Francois, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Dias, Alrick, Faget, Daniel, Harmelin, Jean-Georges, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Lejeusne, Christophe, Perez, Thierry, Vacelet, Jean, Verlaque, Marc (2023): The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history. Zootaxa 5249 (2): 213-252, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5249.2.3

The populations of two iconic fish species, the dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus and the brown meagre Sciaena umbra, were recorded at 13 sites inside and outside the marine reserve of Scandola, Corsica (NW Mediterranean), according to three levels of protection (integral reserve, buffer zone and unprotected zones) in summer 2012 and 2018. No change in mean abundance with protection level was recorded for E. marginatus between years but relocation of individuals was observed among sites. In contrast, S. umbra mean abundance decreased in the integral reserve in 2018. A particular abundance decline was recorded in 2018 at certain sites in the integral reserve for both species (dusky grouper: –63%; brown meagre: –88%). Different hypotheses explaining the changes observed are discussed (depth refuge, disease, poaching, artisanal fisheries and boat tourism). The increase in marine noise pollution generated by motorboats in summer during these species’ reproduction period, by disturbing their acoustic communication and mating behaviour, could be a cause of depopulation at certain sites.

Among marine primary producers, macroalgae support complex and productive coastal food webs, but coastal primary production relies on terrigenous inputs and remineralized organic matter which both vary seasonally. An approach combining stable isotope and biochemical analyses enables a better characterization of macroalgae specificities and highlights environmental influences on their chemical signature. This study compared the isotopic signature and biochemical composition of 22 Mediterranean macroalgae belonging to Rhodophyta (red algae), Phaeophyceae (brown algae) and Chlorophyta (green algae) between March and November 2010 to capture the differences in species chemical signatures potentially driven by metabolic traits or environmental drivers. Carbon stable isotope values were evidenced as a good proxy of specific carbon metabolism: low values observed in red algae could be related to the reported absence of carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) in this group while higher values were driven by strong CCM activity in green algae. Biochemical patterns also differed between groups: soluble carbohydrates were a major component for red algae, while lipids and proteins dominated in brown algae, and insoluble carbohydrate concentrations were high in green algae. Variation within species across two collection times could be related to environmental changes and algal metabolism. δ15N values confirm the efficiency of this parameter as a proxy of the impact of human influence in the Bay of Marseille. Isotopic and biochemical content was measured in 22 Mediterranean macroalgae.Carbon descriptors are related to the metabolism of the specific macroalgal group.Seasonal variation of descriptors correlates with environmental variability. Isotopic and biochemical content was measured in 22 Mediterranean macroalgae. Carbon descriptors are related to the metabolism of the specific macroalgal group. Seasonal variation of descriptors correlates with environmental variability.

The surmullet Mullus surmuletus Linnaeus, 1758 is one of the main target and high valuespecies for small coastal fisheries in the North-Western Mediterranean. Morphometric andreproduction indices of surmullet were determined in fisheries regulated and non-regulatedzones neighbouring the Port-Cros National Park (South-Eastern France) in autumn 2019 andspring 2020. Total length of individuals ranged between 12 and 32 cm, with a mode (?)between 17 and 23 cm. Significantly larger individuals were measured in the regulated fishingzones than in non-regulated ones, and in autumn rather than in spring. Females dominated inall zones and seasons, particularly in size classes > 24 cm in spring. Higher gonado-somaticindex and more advanced gonadal development stages were observed in both sexes in springthan in autumn. Higher percentages of individuals with mature gonads and high gonado-somatic index were found in the fisheries regulated zone, engendering a higher reproductivepotential. These results highlighted the importance of fisheries management with regard to thelife-history traits of targeted fish species., Le rouget de roche Mullus surmuletus est l'une des principales espèces cibles etcommerciales des pêcheries côtières artisanales de la Méditerranée nord-occidentale. Lamorphométrie et les indices de reproduction du rouget ont été déterminés dans les zones depêche réglementées et non réglementées autour du Parc National de Port-Cros (Sud-Est de laFrance) à l'automne 2019 et au printemps 2020. La longueur totale des individus variait entre12 et 32 cm, avec un mode entre 17 et 23 cm. Des individus significativement plus grands ontété mesurés dans la zone de pêche réglementée comparativement aux zones non réglementées,et en automne par rapport au printemps. Les femelles dominaient dans toutes les zones etsaisons, en particulier dans les classes de taille > 24 cm au printemps. Un indice gonado-somatique plus élevé et des stades de développement gonadiques plus avancés au printempsqu’en automne ont été observés chez les deux sexes. Des pourcentages plus élevés d'individusavec des gonades matures et un indice gonado-somatique élevé ont été trouvés dans la zone depêche réglementée, induisant un plus fort potentiel reproducteur. Ces résultats mettent enévidence l'importance de la gestion des pêches sur les traits d'histoire de vie des espèces depoissons ciblés.