Where are France's marine living resources?

The National Marine Biological Resource Center, EMBRC-France

Each with its own specialties, the three marine stations at Banyuls-sur-mer, Roscoff and Villefranche-sur-mer, under the joint supervision of Sorbonne University and CNRS, are striving to deepen our understanding of this biodiversity. They have joined forces to form the Centre National de Ressources Biologiques Marines, EMBRC-France. As the entry point for marine bio-resource exploration in France, EMBRC-France benefits from the support of the "Investissements d'avenir" program and the strong involvement of the Brittany, PACA and Languedoc Roussillon regions and the Mer Bretagne Atlantique and Mer Méditerranée competitiveness clusters in its governance.

EMBRC-France studies focus on optimizing culture conditions, deseasonalizing the reproduction period, cryopreservation and transport methods for a wide variety of organisms.

Model organisms studied include sea urchins (Paracentrotus), cuttlefish (Sepia), ascidians (Ciona, Phallusia, Botryllus), jellyfish (Clytia), amphioxus (Branchiostoma), dogfish (Scyliorhinus), and a variety of microorganisms (microalgae, bacteria).

• For further information: EMBRC France (embrc-france.fr)

But there are also some in three RARe pillars, with the 3 CRBs: 

CRB UBOCC (Microorganisms pillar)

• Bacteria, archaea, yeasts and molds from diverse environments such as deep-sea and coastal environments (hydrothermal springs, deep-sea sediments, bivalve pathogens) and agricultural and agrifood ecosystems (agrifood companies, field flora, environments contaminated by hydrocarbons or plastics) : More information

Colisa (Environment pillar)

• Collection of ichthyological samples resulting from the fusion of historical and recent samples from numerous aquatic specimens: with some thirty taxa, the most represented species are salmon and freshwater species. The collection is made up of several sample types: calcified specimens with scales, otoliths and opercula, complemented by fin samples. : More information

Cryobanque Nationale (Animal pillar)

• Sea bass, Scallop, Russian sturgeon, Siberian sturgeon, Hollow oyster, Sea bream, Lean, Rainbow trout: More information