Tethys Research Institute north-western Mediterranean, within the waters of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. This ongoing project focuses on the ecology and conservation of the cetacean fauna occurring in the area, which includes the fin whale ("Balaenoptera physalus"), the sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus"), the long-finned pilot whale ("Globicephala melas"), the Risso’s dolphin ("Grampus griseus"), the Cuvier's beaked whale ("Ziphius cavirostris"), the striped dolphin ("Stenella coeruleoalba"), the common bottlenose dolphin and, to a lesser extent, the short-beaked common dolphin ("Delphinus delphis"). The study area extends over about 24,000 km encompassing coastal, slope and deep pelagic waters between continental Italy, France and the
Deep sea creature extreme difference in pressure between the sea floor and the surface makes the creature's survival on the surface near impossible; this makes in-depth research difficult because most useful information can only be found while the creatures are alive. Recent developments have allowed scientists to look at these creatures more closely, and for a longer time. A marine biologist, Jeffery Drazen, has explored a solution, a pressurized fish trap. This captures a deep-water creature, and adjusts its internal pressure slowly to surface level as the creature is brought to the surface, in the hope that the creature can adjust. Another scientific