Mesopelagic

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mesopelagic fish
Adjective
  1. 1
    Describing the pelagic zone of the ocean between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones, characterized by very minimal light. not-comparable

    "For those animals living in the mesopelagic zone, where some light downwells from the surface, a visual predator looking up at them could see a silhouette."

Synonyms

All synonyms
mesopelagialtwilight

Example

More examples

"In the thermocline, temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed upper layer of the ocean (called the epipelagic zone) to much colder deep water in the thermocline (called the mesopelagic zone)."

Etymology

From meso- + pelagic.

Related phrases

mesopelagic zone

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.