pelagic
puh-LAJ-ik
Definition
Relating to or living in the open sea, rather than near the shore or the seafloor.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek word 'pelagos', meaning 'sea' or 'open sea.' It entered English in the 19th century to describe organisms that inhabit the water column away from the coast.
In the news
The article uses the word to distinguish ocean-dwelling octopuses from the bottom-dwelling, or benthic, species that were the primary subjects of the research. This distinction is important because different environments may influence how different cephalopods sustain active swimming.
An octopus has three hearts, but during jet-propelled swimming its main systemic heart can briefly stop—the pressure inside its mantle prevents enough blood from returning to the hearts. That helps explain why bottom-dwelling octopuses usually crawl and re
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com