Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Specifically, in marine biol.: Living at the surface of the high sea at a distance from land.
- Living at the surface of the sea. See the extract.
- Living at the surface of the water, either salt or fresh.
- Floating or swimming in the water, either at the surface or at any depth below it.
- In geology and geography, of or pertaining to the deep ocean; far from land.
- Marine; oceanic; of or inhabiting the deep or open sea: said of those aquatic plants and animals which inhabit the high seas. Also
Pelagian .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the ocean; -- applied especially to animals that live at the surface of the ocean, away from the coast. Compare
benthic .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology Living in the
open sea rather than incoastal orinland waters .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to or occurring or living in or frequenting the open ocean
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Marine biodiversity has been particularly threatened by the uncontrolled illegal fishing by large ships owned by mainland or Asiatic fishing companies in pelagic zones, often inside the Marine Reserve, using high technology methods such as long-lining.
Galápagos National Park & Galápagos Marine Resources Reserve, Ecuador 2009
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Fail to use an approved "pelagic" system for weighing herring, mackerel and horse mackerel.
Archive 2008-09-01 FIDO The Dog 2008
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Whale sharks are pelagic, meaning they roam the open sea, and can only be seen along the coast during seasonal feeding aggregations.
Archive 2007-06-01 Scott Schmidt 2007
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Whale sharks are pelagic, meaning they roam the open sea, and can only be seen along the coast during seasonal feeding aggregations.
Close Encounter with a Whale Shark Scott Schmidt 2007
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Every kind of pelagic gamefish cruises in this warm, blue flow.
Summer at Sea 2003
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We did a good deal of "pelagic" sealing; that is, catching seals swimming.
The Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales Frank T. Bullen 1886
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The total number of false killer whales in Hawaiian waters, including both the insular population and a "pelagic" population that also interacts with longlines, is estimated at only about 600.
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The total number of false killer whales in Hawaiian waters, including both the insular population and a "pelagic" population that also interacts with longlines, is estimated at only about 600.
Media Newswire 2010
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A "pelagic", or open-ocean, shark - so attacks in coastal waters are exceedingly rare
BBC News - Home 2010
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And in South America, the concern is that climate change will alter coastal upwellings, which sustain huge catches of anchovies, sardines and other varieties of small "pelagic" fish.
KI Media 2009
heypacksees commented on the word pelagic
Beyond the littoral, above the benthic. The open sea.
November 21, 2011