Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Dwelling at or near the bottom of a body of water: a demersal fish.
- adj. Sinking to or deposited near the bottom of a body of water: demersal fish eggs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having so great a specific gravity as to sink in water: said of fish-eggs.
Wiktionary
- adj. biology That lives near the sea bed and lake bed
Etymologies
- From Latin dēmersus, past participle of dēmergere, to sink : dē-, de- + mergere, to sink. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“According to Natural England, "landings of demersal fish, particularly cod and haddock, have fallen by more than 50%" in the decade up to 2007.”
“As cod is demersal (i.e., a near-bottom fish), it is not likely to migrate north of the Barents Sea and into the deep Arctic Basin.”
“In the Pechora Sea, where there is no traditional demersal fishery, changes in zoobenthos biomass in 1924, 1958 to 1959, 1968 to 1970, and 1992 to 1995 show a negative correlation between zoobenthos biomass and temperature [21].”
“A study of demersal fishes and fisheries of the northeastern Pacific Ocean.”
“The composition of demersal ichthyocenosis in the western part of Bering Sea in November, 2002.”
“With the increasing effort and efficiency of the international distant water and local fishing fleets, cod catches in Icelandic waters increased to peak at 520,000t in 1933, while the catch of other demersal species increased to about 200,000t (Fig. 13.8).”
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Central North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland)
“After the Second World War, catches of demersal fish from Icelandic grounds increased again.”
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Central North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland)
“Because of the very strong 1945 cod year class and good recruitment to other demersal stocks, the exploitation rate of cod and other demersal species remained at a low level, although almost 50% higher than during the late 1920s and early 1930s.”
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Central North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland)
“Historically, demersal fisheries at Iceland and Greenland fall into two categories: land-based fisheries conducted by local inhabitants, and those of distant water foreign fleets.”
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Central North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland)
“A successful fishing policy of this kind should ensure an increase in the abundance of many demersal fish stocks by around 2030.”
Fisheries and aquaculture in the Central North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland)
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘demersal’.
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dysteleology, dyslogistic, dystectic, dysphoria, dysphonia, dystopia, dysphemism, dystocia, dyslogia, dysaesthesia, dyschromatopic, dysbulia and 624 more...
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Pet Rocks and Carbon Footprints
Soil samples for stone soup.
palynology, stratigraphy, tse'bit'ai, tse bitai, tse bit ai, bitai, minette, maar, lithosphere, peridotite, gneiss, gabbro and 115 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Underwaterritory
When you're underwater, what do you see or experience? Let's dive...
(Here's a cute little related list called Fishful Thinking...)underwater, curglaff, submarine, underwater habitat, diving bell, paravane, bottom trawling, sediment traps, torpedo, mines, shipwreck, sonar and 214 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3250 more...
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June 2010
subsidence, infauna, epifauna, taxa, macrofauna, megafauna, meiofauna, microfauna, biota, ikaite, pelagic, demersal and 16 more...
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dirtmusic's list
Obsessive words
trundle, forzando, graben, caterwaul, chapparral, dauerlauf, diadem, doloroso, dithyramb, dyslalia, desinence, lucerne and 18 more...
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Oceanic
littoral, benthic, pelagic, bathyal, abyssal, hadal, neritic, sublittoral, demersal
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Bottom-dwelling
Words meaning bottom-dwelling
Tweets
Looking for tweets for demersal.
reesetee Heehee! Thanks, trivet! May 29, 2007
trivet Oh, a flounder's life is a wonderful life,
A-lurkin' under the sea,
I'd need no rehersal to be a demersal
It's the life of a flounder for me!
Oh, the life of a flounder for me!
Oh, a flounder's life is a wonderful life,
Your eyes are on top of your head,
For lying quite hidden, then pouncing unbidden
What a glorious life it would be!
Oh, what a glorious life it would be!
with apologies to pirates everywhere. May 29, 2007
reesetee Living at or near the sea floor but having the capacity for active swimming; e.g., flounder. May 29, 2007