benthic communities
Ocean bottom dwellers
Benthic communities are the organisms living on or in the bottom of a body of water—ocean floor, lake bed, river bottom.
The term groups together everything from bacteria and worms to crabs and bottom-dwelling fish that inhabit these sediments.
Marine biologists study benthic communities to assess ecosystem health: The oil spill devastated benthic communities in the Gulf.
- seafloorOcean's solid base
- tube wormsSessile marine invertebrates in casings
- sea cucumbersElongated marine echinoderms
- filter feedersOrganisms sieving food from water
- detritivoresCreatures consuming dead material
bottom feeders · bivalves · scavengers · amphipods · estuary · echinoderms · coral reef · deep-sea trench · hydrothermal vent · water temperature · crustaceans · sponges · continental shelf · ocean floor · intertidal zone · burrowing · worms · crabs
- marine ecosystemsphytoplankton, oceans, zooplankton, marine life, krill
- Antarctic OceanSouthern Ocean, sea ice, pack ice, ice shelf, krill
- freshwater clamsfilter feeders, filter feeding
- seafloor sedimentssediment layers, seafloor, substrate, detritus, organic matter