the essential Renowned biologist and oceanographer, Michel Segonzac enjoys a peaceful retirement in his Gers apartment in Villefranche-d’Astarac, which is full of the remains of a quarry rich in discoveries.
It is a very special museum which cannot be penetrated so easily, and where the most remarkable works are not necessarily the best displayed. To access it, you have to go to Villefranche-d’Astarac, on the borders of Gers and Haute-Garonne, where its owner admits to having landed “completely by chance” around fifteen years ago. Welcome to Michel Segonzac.
Always good-looking despite his 81 years, this retired scientist piles up in his apartment numerous testimonies of his formidable discoveries, which have made him an eminent specialist in abyssal fauna, known and recognized worldwide. One of them is none other than the Galathée Yeti, or Kiwa Hirsuta, a 15 cm crustacean with silk-covered appendages. “A little marvel” taken from the abyss at the twilight of its career, as part of the PAR5 oceanographic mission (Pacific-Antarctic Ridge), intended to explore four sectors of the southeast Pacific ridge.
The scientist keeps rare specimens from the seabed at home. DDM – VCL
We are in 2005 aboard the American submarine Alvin, at a depth of 2300 m, off the coast of Easter Island. Michel Segonzac remembers this suspended moment as if it were yesterday. “I saw through the porthole an animal that seemed completely different to me,” he relates. After reporting his find to the pilot in basic English, the researcher fears not having been understood. “He took it in a vacuum cleaner but I hadn’t seen it. Later, he arrived with the animal on a tray. When I saw that, I almost had a scientific coma (laughs) . It’s truly an extraordinary animal.”
“He who knows the deep abyssal fauna best”
The impact of this discovery will be resounding in the world of oceanography, the Galathée Yeti revealing a new family of crustaceans belonging to the group of Galatheoidea. Michel Segonzac’s rich career is, however, far from being limited to this discovery, the scientist having carried out colossal work to catalog hydrothermal communities, animals living in the depths, close to hot water springs. Proof of this is that he gave his name to a crab, the Segonzacia mesatlantica, a rare thing for a scientist during his lifetime. He is even considered “the one who best knows deep abyssal fauna” by Cindy Lee Van Dover, president of the Department of Marine Sciences and Conservation at the prestigious American Duke University.
After a rich career as a researcher, the Tarnais enjoys a peaceful retirement in the Gers. DDM – VCL
For his part, Michel Segonzac assures that he never forced destiny to deserve such fame. He barely speaks of chance – and luck too – to describe his journey, that of a researcher plunged into the deep ocean after “painful studies” of plant biology in Toulouse. Having left to learn his hand for 15 months in the sub-Antarctic islands (Crozet archipelago) to observe birds, the native of Gaillac then studied the mammals of the national parks of Senegal before creating a biological oceanography sorting laboratory (CENTOB ) on behalf of Ifremer, in Brest.
Michel Segonzac aboard the Cyana, a pocket submarine designed by Commander Cousteau. DDM – VCL
At the head of CENTOB for 30 years, Michel Segonzac was able to establish close links throughout his career with other ocean specialists, such as Jean-Louis Etienne. During his countless dives in the Cyana or Nautile submarines, he also rubbed shoulders with the late Paul-Henri Nargeolet, “Mr. Titanic”, who died last year aboard the Titan. A tragedy that he still has difficulty explaining today. “How could this guy allow himself to be trapped?” he asks, grateful to have benefited from “impeccable controls” during his expeditions. Because even after probing the seabed for so many years, Michel Segonzac always had the chance to return to the surface. And in good health.
A work of memory for the Meilhan maquis
Michel Segonzac’s curiosity is not limited to the abysses, but to everything that surrounds him. Proof of this is that he and Jean Baurès devoted significant research work to collect valuable testimonies on the tragedy of the Meilhan maquis, during which 76 maquis members were massacred in a few hours by the Nazi army on July 7, 1944. When I arrived here, a neighbor had been wanting to collect testimonies from elders who had experienced this tragedy directly or indirectly. I bought a dictaphone and we went to see the people. And I transcribed these 30 stories . Three quarters are dead today,” he testifies. The collection was published in October 2014, the year of the 70th anniversary commemoration.
2024-02-08 15:56:43
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