Ecologie ichthyologique des fonds chalutables atlantiques (de la baie ibéro-marocaine à la Mauritanie) et de la Méditerranée occidentale

Abstract

In 1953, Ekman noted with surprise that the Mediterranean, the cradle of civilization and Aristotle's laboratory, was far from being the most well-known sea in Europe. This comment could also be applied to the Atlantic coasts, from the southern Iberian Peninsula to north-west Africa. A few years later, when the observations given here begin, knowledge of coastal zones had taken great strides. However, this was not the case for the continental slope, and much less so for abyssal plains. Only a few documents report on ocean depths greater than 200 m and the fauna that live there. Many oceanographic research vessels surveyed these regions during the second half of the 19th century, but they only explored them in passing. The main zone of research for these vessels was vaster and further from the coasts of Europe. (unverified OCR)