bathypelagic

[bath-uh-puh-laj-ik]

adjective

Oceanography.

1. pertaining to or living in the bathyal region of an ocean.

bathypelagic

/ ˌbæθɪpəˈlædʒɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or inhabiting the lower depths of the ocean between approximately 1000 and 4000 metres

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathypelagic¹

First recorded in 1905–10; bathy- + pelagic

Example Sentences

The research, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, uncovers how these enigmatic creatures defied the odds to diversify in the harsh, resource-poor environment of the bathypelagic zone -- part of the open ocean that extends from 3,300 to 13,000 feet below the ocean's surface.

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This ancestor lived on the continental slope before transitioning to the open waters of the bathypelagic zone in a transition that set the stage for rapid evolutionary change.

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This finding is the most surprising of the study, for the bathypelagic zone did not constrain evolution as expected despite its apparent lack of ecological diversity.

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"With their unique traits like bioluminescent lures and large oral gapes, deep-sea anglerfish may be one of the few documented examples of adaptive radiation in the resource-limited bathypelagic zone," said Evans, a co-corresponding author on the paper and assistant professor of biosciences.

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"For example, the idea that all deep-sea life is ancient is clearly wrong; anglerfishes only swam into the open waters of the bathypelagic zone in the last 50 to 60 million years. This is a long time ago, to be sure, but it is much more recent -- on the order of 50-60 million years -- than we inferred previously using smaller DNA datasets and less informative fossils."

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