Synoptic description of site:

Long cave in conglomerate layers below the cliff of Bec-de-l'Aigle Cape, exceptional for its thermal regime (cold homothermy) and a unique bathyal fauna in the littoral zone.

Extensive description of site:

The 3PP cave, near La Ciotat, is a 120 m long tunnel in a conglomerate layer, with a deep mud layer on the floor. Due to its descending profile, with the entrance 15 m deep and the end 24 m deep, the cave traps by density a cold water mass and has a thermal regime of cold homothermy similar to that of the deep Mediterranean.

Description of fauna and flora:

There are typical faunal assemblages from shadowed and dark caves. Most remarkable are bathyal organisms, such as hexactinellid and carnivorous sponges, that have colonized the cave from a nearby deep canyon.

Human impact:

There is no notable pollution. The cave is rarely visited by local divers.

Facilities:

Facilities are available from the Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille (COM) 25 km distant. There is easy boat access from La Ciotat harbour (1 km).

Available database and website:

A species inventory for several invertebrate groups (sponges, serpulid polychaetes, bryozoans, crustaceans) is available in the COM.

Commitment and ongoing research:

The cave has been intensively studied by the COM for 11 years: continuous temperature recordings, species inventories, biodiversity researches, studies on the physiology, taxonomy and phylogeny of deep-sea species found in this “bathyal island in a littoral environment”.

• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Institut National de Science de l'Univers; Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille; Station Marine d'Endoume (Proposed the Biomare Site)
  • Vacelet,Jean (Proposed the Biomare Site)
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille (Carrying out research on the Biomare site)