See also: Benthon

English edit

Etymology edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun edit

benthon (plural benthons)

  1. (ecology, biology) The habitat at the bottom of a body of water.
    • 1961, Challenger Society for the Promotion of the Study of Oceanography, Annual Report and Proceedings of the Challenger Society[1], volumes 13-20, The Society, →OCLC, page 28:
      The simple trophic relations in the plankton do not demand such a wide variety of adaptations as do the complex relations in the benthon where, in addition to microphagous herbivores, there are also macrophagous ones and an[sic] unique of detritus feeders which build up animal protoplasm on the sea floor.

Related terms edit

Translations edit