benthosn.

1891 G. W. Field tr. E. Hæckel Planktonic Stud. in Rep. U.S. Comm. Fisheries 1889–91 xvii. 582 The abyssal benthos.

1895 Nat. Sci. July 29 The greatest part of the..discoveries..concerns the Benthos.

1897 T. J. Parker & W. A. Haswell Text-bk. Zool. II. 600 Others [sc. marine animals]..are either permanently fixed, like Zoophytes and Stalked Crinoids, or move by creeping over the sea-bottom, like Starfishes, Holothurians, Chætopods, etc.; such forms constitute the Benthos, or ‘bottom-fauna’.

1921 Discovery Oct. 265/1 Marine organisms can be roughly divided into..the plankton or drifters, the nekton or swimmers, and the benthos or fixed organisms.

1959 A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries v. 94 All these other forms of life, referred to collectively as the benthos..are vitally important to the fish either as their prey or as voracious competitors for limited supplies of food.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 933 Each of the three benthic groups is well characterized by a special fauna.

1942 H. U. Sverdrup et al. Oceans viii. 276 The benthic division may be subdivided into..the littoral and the deep-sea systems... [This] is divided into an upper (archibenthic) and a lower (abyssalbenthic) zone.

1956 Nature 25 Feb. 375/1 The animals were only about 5 mm. long, and as lancelets are benthic forms it is most unlikely that the scattering layer consisted of this species.

1905 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 61 Proc. p. lxxiv The benthoal organisms existing in tracts where the physical conditions..vary rapidly, are limited as to their horizontal range by the distribution of those conditions which determine their station.

1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Benthonic.

1913 J. Murray Ocean viii. 160 Pelagic larvæ of benthonic animals are abundant near shore in shallow water, but become less numerous farther out to sea.

1923 W. A. Herdman Founders Oceanogr. 327 The demersion upon which hordes of benthonic animals can browse.