epibenthos

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The animals and plants that exist next to the benthos, or deep-sea fauna and flora — namely, those that live in the sea-bottom of the continental shelf or littoral zone, and those that are attached to its surface, and those that creep or run over its surface, considered collectively. See benthos.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun biology benthic organisms that live on top of the sediment