Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The collection of organisms living on or in the bottom of a body of water.
- noun The bottom of a body of water.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The plants and animals that live in the sea-bottom, and those that are attached to its surface, and those that creep or run over it: a collective noun introduced by Haeckel. The benthos is contrasted with the plankton, or floating and swimming fauna and flora of the sea. It includes all the marine macrophytic algæ, also some phanerogams, the sea-grasses (see
sea-grass , 1), as well as an abundance of microphytic algæ (diatoms, etc.). It is divided into the sedentary and the vagile or vagrant benthos, the former including organisms attached to the bottom, the latter those moving over it. See plankton, nekton.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot. & Zoöl.) The bottom of the sea, esp. of the deep oceans
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
flora andfauna at the bottom of theocean or other body of water.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun organisms (plants and animals) that live at or near the bottom of a sea
- noun a region including the bottom of the sea and the littoral zones
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Professor Joye and her colleagues used the Alvin submersible to explore the bottom-most layer of the water around the well head, known as the benthos.
BBC News - Home 2011
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New word: if you're one of those creatures that abides in the lowest level of a body of water (benthic zone), you are called a 'benthos'.
Ugly Overload 2009
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Despite some inaccuracies about the state of the benthos that I'll outline below, I thought the60 Minutespiecewas great for reef conservation in general.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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ÂDespite some inaccuracies about the state of the benthos that I'll outline below, I thought theÂ60 MinutesÂpieceÂwas great for reef conservation in general.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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GQ is more "resilient" than other reefs due to it's protection, isolation, abundant predators, etc ÂFalse ÂSince the state of benthos in terms of coral and seaweed cover is far from exceptional, this argument isn't justified.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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GQ is more "resilient" than other reefs due to it's protection, isolation, abundant predators, etc ÂFalse ÂSince the state of benthos in terms of coral and seaweed cover is far from exceptional, this argument isn't justified.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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GQ is more "resilient" than other reefs due to it's protection, isolation, abundant predators, etc False Since the state of benthos in terms of coral and seaweed cover is far from exceptional, this argument isn't justified.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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Despite some inaccuracies about the state of the benthos that I'll outline below, I thought the60 Minutespiecewas great for reef conservation in general.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
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GQ is more "resilient" than other reefs due to it's protection, isolation, abundant predators, etc False Since the state of benthos in terms of coral and seaweed cover is far from exceptional, this argument isn't justified.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
-
ÂDespite some inaccuracies about the state of the benthos that I'll outline below, I thought theÂ60 MinutesÂpieceÂwas great for reef conservation in general.
John F. Bruno: Fact Checking the 60 Minutes Segment on Gardens of the Queen John F. Bruno 2011
qms commented on the word benthos
If costs of the oil spill are rightly assessed
Then lovers of seafood are mightily blessed.
They've bathed the whole benthos
In a savory dense sauce
So fish in the nets come up ready-dressed.
February 19, 2014
qms commented on the word benthos
The definition supplied with the Word of the Day message has a curiously biblical (that is, King James) sound to it:
"The plants and animals that live in the sea-bottom, and those that are
attached to its surface, and those that creep or run over it."
I think it comes from the use of polysyndeton. The somewhat odd application of the prepositions "in" and "over" also contribute an Elizabethan feel.
February 19, 2014