benthos

American  

[ben-thos] / ˈbɛn θɒs /

noun

1. the biogeographic region that includes the bottom of a lake, sea, or ocean, and the littoral and supralittoral zones of the shore.

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benthos British  

/ ˈbɛnθɒs /

noun

1. the animals and plants living at the bottom of a sea or lake

2. the bottom of a sea or lake

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benthos Scientific  

/ bĕn′thŏs′ /

1. The bottom of a sea or lake.

2. The organisms living on sea or lake bottoms. The benthos are divided into sessile organisms (those that are attached to the bottom or to objects on or near the bottom) and vagrant organisms (those that crawl or swim along the bottom).

3. Compare nekton plankton See more at epifauna infauna

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Other Word Forms

• benthic adjective

Etymology

Origin of benthos

1890–95; < Greek bénthos depth (of the sea); akin to bathos, bathy-

Example Sentences

Thirteen months later, populations of these kinds of mobile deep sea dwellers, known as swimming benthos, had dropped by 43 percent in the mining location and 56 percent in adjacent areas surrounding the site.

From Salon • Aug. 2, 2023

The dominant feature in the plots rendered by acoustic queries into the benthos is still that dense, impenetrable cloud of the deep scattering layer.

From Scientific American • Dec. 1, 2015

His wife, Barbara, worked on the flora and fauna of the benthos, the bottom layer, where clams live.

From Scientific American • Aug. 9, 2013

Dr. Donald Boesch is a biological oceanographer who has authored two books and more than 90 papers on marine benthos, estuaries, wetlands, continental shelves, oil pollution, nutrient over-enrichment, environmental assessment and monitoring and science policy.

From Scientific American • Apr. 30, 2013

Unlike fish, being large and slow may render jellyfishes more vulnerable to predation and passively dependent on ocean currents for sex encounter and recruitment to benthos.

From Time • Sep. 16, 2011