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prettygoodworddemersal (dih-MUR-suhl) - adj., living near, found near, or sinking to near the bottom of a body of water.
Such as the sea or a lake. The very bottom of the water column, which in some senses merges with the sediment of the ocean/lake floor, is the benthos, while the water right above that is the demersal zone. Flatfish (such as the halibut) typically are demersal, but they're not the only ones to live right above the very bottom -- see for ex cod. Coined in the 1880s from Latin dēmersus, past participle of dēmergere, to sink, from dē-, normally of/from but here an intensifier + mergere, to sink.
---L.
Such as the sea or a lake. The very bottom of the water column, which in some senses merges with the sediment of the ocean/lake floor, is the benthos, while the water right above that is the demersal zone. Flatfish (such as the halibut) typically are demersal, but they're not the only ones to live right above the very bottom -- see for ex cod. Coined in the 1880s from Latin dēmersus, past participle of dēmergere, to sink, from dē-, normally of/from but here an intensifier + mergere, to sink.
---L.
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Date: 2022-01-06 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-06 08:24 pm (UTC)I don't remember ATM where I stumbled across it, but it piqued my interest.