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The distribution of coccolithophorid assemblages is analyzed from water samples collected in the photic zone of the middle Ionian Sea during a cruise of R/V Urania in November–December 1997. Coccolithophorids are an important phytoplankton group in the oligotrophic eastern Mediterranean, and their coccoliths make an important contribution to the sediments of this area, being also widely used for paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic reconstructions. Nevertheless, studies on extant coccolithophorids ecology and distribution in the eastern Mediterranean are limited and mostly related to surface waters: this study, even if restricted to a single period of the year, provides the first detailed analysis of species distribution throughout the photic zone, with relation to the main local physicochemical parameters. During the investigated period, the area is characterized by the presence of a surface mixed layer, reaching a …