circalittoral
Nov. 16th, 2023 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordcircalittoral (sir-kah-LIT-awr-al) - adj., the area of the continental shelf sea-bed that lies below the zone of periodic tidal exposure.
Sometimes considered a synonym of sublittoral, but sometimes sublittoral is divided into infralittoral (where there's enough light for photosynthesis to be common) and circalittoral (from where there's less light down to no more light). Coined from Latin circa, around + littoral, of the shore (from Latin litus, shore/beach).
And yes, this word also makes me giggle. So easy to mispronounce.
---L.
Sometimes considered a synonym of sublittoral, but sometimes sublittoral is divided into infralittoral (where there's enough light for photosynthesis to be common) and circalittoral (from where there's less light down to no more light). Coined from Latin circa, around + littoral, of the shore (from Latin litus, shore/beach).
And yes, this word also makes me giggle. So easy to mispronounce.
---L.
