sublittoral
/sʌbˈlɪt(ə)r(ə)l
/chiefly Ecology
adjective
1Living, growing, or accumulating near to or just below the shore: sublittoral algae
1.1Relating to or denoting a biogeographic zone extending (in the sea) from the average line of low tide to the edge of the continental shelf or (in a large lake) beyond the littoral zone but still well lit: sheltered sublittoral regions mobile species will migrate to sublittoral waters offshore...
- The sublittoral zone extends from the low-tide line out to 200 meters.
- The marine red alga Chondrus crispus is an abundant species along the coasts of the North Atlantic and inhabits the intertidal and upper sublittoral zones of rocky shorelines.
- In 1997, biomass of both littoral and sublittoral invertebrates in the impoundment was comparable to that of New Brunswick lakes of similar trophic status.
noun
The sublittoral zone.Bathyal is defined as pertaining to the ocean bottom between the sublittoral and abyssal zones - from depths of approximately 200 to 400 m....
- The paleoenvironments are interpreted as inner sublittoral and coastal lagoons environments with riverine and estuarine influence.
- The wildlife of the sublittoral sediment areas is less diverse than that of the rocky sublittorals but the areas have a high biomass and are important fishing areas, particularly for bottom-feeding fish.