Benthic

At first glance the sand seems barren and unproductive. After a while, if you are careful not to kick up sand, you might see tiny benthic communities of tube-building worms come alive as they sweep the passing nutrient rich waters with tentacles to capture food.

The oceanic ecosystem includes the pelagic zone, the benthic zone, and the abyssal zone.

The benthic environment, except for intertidal areas, has been scarcely explored[…]

As the classical approach to benthic community studies originated primarily with Danish biologists, a section is devoted to comparisons of Danish bottom communities with those obtained in Hadley Harbor.

Benthic foraminifera have been used for stratigraphic purposes almost since they began to be studied systematically.