Deep-sea benthos

Deep-sea benthos comprises organisms living on or within the ocean floor below the sunlit surface waters. It includes animals, microbes, and other life adapted to darkness, cold, and high pressure.

Marine snow: A continuous shower of organic particles that sinks from upper ocean waters toward the seafloor. It supplies much of the carbon consumed by deep-sea communities.
Benthic zone: The ecological region comprising the bottom of a body of water and its associated surfaces and sediments. Deep-sea benthos is the deep-ocean subset of life in this broader bottom region.
Deep-sea mining: The extraction of mineral resources from deep-ocean floors. Mining can disturb benthic habitats and produce sediment plumes that affect organisms.
Cold seep: A seafloor site where methane-rich or sulfide-rich fluids seep into the ocean without the intense heat of a vent. Cold seeps sustain chemosynthetic benthos around methane and sulfide emissions.
Deep-sea biodiversity: The variety of life and ecological communities in the deep ocean. Its scale remains uncertain because much of the deep seafloor has not been surveyed.
Chemosynthesis: The production of organic matter using energy from chemical reactions rather than sunlight. It supports communities where seafloor fluids provide chemical energy instead of sinking food.
Abyssal plain: A broad, flat region of deep-ocean floor, usually covered by fine sediment. Abyssal plains make up extensive habitat for deep-sea bottom organisms.
Environmental DNA: Genetic material collected from environmental samples to detect organisms without observing them directly. Seafloor water and sediment samples can reveal hard-to-observe benthic species.
Whale fall: The carcass of a whale that has sunk to the seafloor, creating a temporary, resource-rich habitat. A single carcass can support a succession of deep-sea benthic communities.
Species discovery: The scientific identification and description of organisms not previously recognized as species. New benthic species continue to emerge from poorly sampled deep-sea habitats.

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