mesopelagic

[mez-uh-puh-laj-ik, mes-, mee-zuh-, -suh-]

adjective

Oceanography.

1. of, relating to, or living in the ocean at a depth of between 600 feet (180 meters) and 3,000 feet (900 meters).

mesopelagic

/ ˌmɛsəʊpəˈlædʒɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or inhabiting the intermediate depths of the ocean between approximately 100 and 1000 metres

Word History and Origins

Origin of mesopelagic¹

First recorded in 1945–50; meso- + pelagic

Example Sentences

“Many mesopelagic organisms vertically migrate into shallower water at night to feed in the more productive shallow waters. As far as we know, anglerfish generally do not vertically migrate as adults but this fish could have come shallow for a myriad of reasons.”

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Also known as the mesopelagic, it makes up a fifth of the ocean’s total volume, and much of it remains largely unexplored.

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“How old are they when they spawn? How old do they get? Where do they reproduce?” says Iglesias, who also co-leads the Mesopelagic Fisheries Working Group at the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative.

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Ms. Justino has excavated fibers and beads from the digestive tracts of lanternfish, hatchetfish and other fish that migrate up and down in the mesopelagic, 650 to 3,300 feet down.

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Superflex chose to highlight the siphonophore as a representative of the mesopelagic zone of the sea, known as the twilight zone, which receives little to no sunlight.

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