Hydrothermalisme et communautés animales associées sur la dorsale du Pacifique oriental entre17°S et 19°S (campagne Naudur, décembre 1993)

70 hydrothermal sites were observed during the 23 dives of the French submersible Nautile (''Naudur'' cruise, December 1993), at 17-degrees-19-degrees-S on the East Pacific Rise. Large vent-animal communities are present around these sites. The zoological composition of these communities is the same as that of the communities at 11-degrees-13-degrees-N and 21-degrees-N on the East Pacific Rise. However, the distribution of the species on the sites is different from all the other hydrothermal communities; large anemone fields of several hundred square metres, associated with colonies of Bathymodiolus and Calyptogena, have been observed. Fresh lava areas seem to bear the most important biological activity.