endangered underwater fauna and flora

The Mediterranean Sea is still warm at the beginning of September. Something to delight vacationers who have chosen to leave after everyone else, but it’s much more worrying for the underwater flora and fauna. The whole ecosystem is destabilized. Off Saint-Raphaël (Var), 25 meters deep, the splendid postcard, with a field of red gorgonians, cousins ​​of coral, usually observed, has disappeared.

With a few exceptions, it is now skeletons that are observable, like a burnt forest. The water temperature is still 26°C in September, too warm for this species, so marine biologists are worried. If the gorgonians ever survive, it will take years for them to grow back. Today, the gorgonian is far from being the only species impacted by global warming. In the long term, a whole balance that had lasted for millions of years could be upset.