the animals and plants living at the bottom of a sea or lake
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
ben•thos
(ben′thos),USA pronunciation n.
- Ecologythe biogeographic region that includes the bottom of a lake, sea, or ocean, and the littoral and supralittoral zones of the shore. Also called ben′thic divi′sion, benthon′ic zone′.
- Greek bénthos depth (of the sea); akin to bathos, bathy-
- 1890–95
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'benthonic' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):