Relating to or living on the bottom of a sea, ocean, or other body of water; also spelled 'benthic.'
From Greek 'benthos' meaning 'depth of the sea,' combined with the adjectival suffix '-al,' entering scientific English in the 19th century to describe deep-sea organisms and environments.
The benthal zone represents one of Earth's least-explored frontiers—we've mapped the moon's surface better than we've mapped the ocean floor, and benthal creatures are still being discovered at rates that astound marine biologists.
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