Just so everyone knows--I'm a shark nut; an aficianado of the cartiliginous sect; the Ayatollah of Sharkarolla (?)

Anyway, while reading about some shark related stuff today I came across the word 'demersal'.
I'd never seen it before.

quote:

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Commercial development of new deep-sea fisheries is increasing as pelagic and inshore demersal stocks decline and fleets move further offshore and into deeper water.

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It means:

de·mer·sal [ di múrs’l ]

adjective

found near bottom of water: living or found in the deepest part of a body of water


[Late 19th century. Formed from Latin demersus , the past participle of demergere “to submerge,” from mergere “to plunge” (see merge).]

Sounds related to immerse, immersion. etc.

I do love pure word posts, WinterBranch!

Yes, Hab, you are correct. [Is he ever wrong?]

In looking up the etymology of the word, AHD cites this: "From Latin dmersus, past participle of dmergere, to sink : d-, de- + mergere, to sink"

My Oxford Etymology book cites the following as the etymology of immersion: from the Latin immergere, with im + mergere, meaning to dip or merge.

WinterBranch, how about some more shark words?

quote:

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Originally posted by WinterBranch:
I came across the word 'demersal'. I'd never seen it before.

quote:

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Commercial development of new deep-sea fisheries is increasing as pelagic and inshore demersal stocks decline and fleets move further offshore and into deeper water.

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Pardon my ignorance, but "pelagic" was new to me as well.

pelagic -- Pelagic organisms swim through the ocean, and may rise to the surface, or sink to the bottom. They are not confined to live on the bottom as benthic organisms do.

quote:

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WinterBranch, how about some more shark words?

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Ummmmm, nothing is leaping to mind. Ampullae of Lorenzini? That's really more of a shark phrase.

I just finished a novel called The Funnies by J. Robert Lennon, about comic strip creation. I learned a slew of new words like:

hites and agitrons--they both indicate movement (hites is forward or backward/agitrons side to side)

briffits--those little clouds of smoke when some thing moves abruptly

squeans--the little bubbles that float above a cartoon characters head to show that they're intoxicated

It was hard to find anything very good on the internet about these words, but the little I found indicated that Mort Walker coined them.

Here's a website. Scroll down to number 88. I apologize for the website, it's one of the worst constructed I've seen!

Oh, those words are great, WinterBranch. I especially love the "briffits" and "squeans." Of course, it all goes back to a comment I've made more than once on this site: What makes a word a word? We have some good discussions along the way, but so far nothing that is really clearcut.

To the Ayatollah of Sharkarolla:

My favorite "Far Side" cartoon (Gary Larsen) shows a woman on the beach saying, "That big shark just came right up out of the water and grabbed my little boy and took him into the water and disappeared. The poor thing must have been half starved!"

Ahhhhh, Far Side, the comics haven't been the same without it.

My favorite shark Far Side was a ship carrying mannequins is sinking and the sharks have gathered. They're trying to gnaw on the limbs, and one says, "What is this?! Some kind of cruel hoax?"

Perhaps Larson could be coaxed out of retirement to publish a cartoon on the fifteenth of each month. The Farce Ide?

Only in March, May, July and October. The Ides fall on the thirteenth day of the other eight months.

For the dictionary, we have benthic (of the depths) and pelagic (of the open ocean; offshore).

Is there a word for the shore region?

quote:

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For the dictionary, we have benthic (of the depths) and pelagic (of the open ocean; offshore).

Is there a word for the shore region?

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Coastal? (I'm not being flippant. That's the only word I can think of for it.)

quote:

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Originally posted by WinterBranch:
Coastal? (I'm not being flippant. That's the only word I can think of for it.)

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Coastal sounds good to me.

Tinman

Riparian also deserves consideration.

Does "littoral" work here? I seem to recall there's one word for river-bank and another for seacoast.

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Originally posted by haberdasher:
Does "littoral" work here? I seem to recall there's one word for river-bank and another for seacoast.

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It definitely does work. It also inspires an interesting pun, something along the lines of being located near the "C" which, sadly, doesn't work because there are one too many "T's."

(And no one wants to be known as a sea-teaser...)

CJ, do you think that sand dunes are sons of beaches?

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Originally posted by tinman:
Coastal sounds good to me.

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Perhaps I spoke too soon. Coastal refers to the shoreline and adjacent lands of oceans. Lacustrine refers to lakes and riparian to streamside or riverside lands. Riverine refers to the river itself. Here are some definitions I found on Lake and Water Word Glossary:

COAST—According to prevailing usage, the term is applied to land bordering seas. The shorelands of the Great Lakes are also called coasts.

COASTAL ZONE—Coastal waters and adjacent lands that exert a measurable influence on the uses of the seas and their resources and biota.

ESTUARINE—(1) Of, pertaining to, or formed in, an Estuary. (2) One of the classification systems under the Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats classification system. See Wetlands. [Also see Appendix W-3, Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats, for additional information on this classification system and specific characteristics of Estuarine Systems.]

ESTUARINE WATERS—Deepwater tidal habitats and tidal wetlands that are usually enclosed by land but have access to the ocean and are at least occasionally diluted by freshwater runoff from the land (such as bays, mouths of rivers, salt marshes, lagoons, etc.).

ESTUARINE ZONE—The area near the coastline that consists of estuaries and coastal saltwater wetlands.

ESTUARY—An area where fresh water meets salt water; for example, bays, mouths of rivers, salt marshes, and lagoons. The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 defines an estuary as "that part of a river or stream or other body of water having unimpaired connection with the open sea, where the sea-water is measurably diluted with freshwater derived from land drainage." These brackish water ecosystems shelter and feed marine life, birds, and wildlife.

LACUSTRINE—Pertaining to, produced by, or inhabiting a lake.

LACUSTRINE WETLANDS—According to criteria of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Lacustrine Wetlands are greater than 20 acres and have less than 30 percent cover of persistent vegetation. Also see Wetlands. [See Appendix W-3 for an explanation of the USFWS Wetland and Deepwater Habitat Classification System and more detailed information on these Systems.]

LITTORAL—The region along the shore of a non-flowing body of water; corresponds to Riparian for a flowing body of water. More specifically, the zone of the sea flood lying between the tide levels.

LITTORAL ZONE—(1) The shallow area near the shore of a non-flowing body of water; that portion of a body of fresh water extending from the shoreline lakeward to the limit of occupancy of rooted plants. (2) A strip of land along the shoreline between the high and low water levels.

PALUSTRINE—Pertaining to a Marsh or Wetlands; wet or marsh habitats.

PALUSTRINE WETLANDS—Used in the wetlands classification system by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to refer to wetlands that are vegetated-dominated by trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, mosses or lichens. See Wetlands (General), Wetlands (COE and EPA), Wetlands (USFWS), Wetlands (NRCS), Wetlands, Palustrine, and Wetlands, Benefits. [See Appendix W-2 for an explanation of the Wetland and Deepwater Habitat Classification System according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) criteria and more detailed information of these systems.

RIPARIAN—Pertaining to the banks of a river, stream, waterway, or other, typically, flowing body of water as well as to plant and animal communities along such bodies of water. This term is also commonly used for other bodies of water, e.g., ponds, lakes, etc., although Littoral is the more precise term for such stationary bodies of water. Also refers to the legal doctrine (Riparian Doctrine and Riparian Water Rights) that says a property owner along the banks of a surface water body has the primary right to withdraw water for reasonable use. Also see Riverine.

RIPARIAN AREAS (HABITAT)—Land areas directly influenced by a body of water. Usually such areas have visible vegetation or physical characteristics showing this water influence. Stream sides, lake borders, and marshes are typical riparian areas. Generally refers to such areas along flowing bodies of water. The term Littoral is generally used to denote such areas along non-flowing bodies of water.

RIPARIAN DOCTRINE—The system for allocating water used in England and the eastern United States. Under the Riparian Doctrine, ownership of land along a stream or river (i.e., riparian lands) is an absolute prerequisite to a right to use water from that body of water and each such landowner has an equal right to the water (whether or not he is presently using it or not). Also see Prior Appropriation Doctrine.

RIPARIAN HABITAT—Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a high density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands.

RIPARIAN LAND—Land situated along the bank of a stream or other, generally flowing bodies of water.

RIPARIAN OWNER—One who owns land bounding upon a river or water course.

RIPARIAN VEGETATION—Plants adapted to moist growing conditions found along waterways and shorelines. They are frequently important to wildlife habitat because of their greater density and succulence.

RIPARIAN WATER RIGHTS—The rights of an owner whose land abuts water. They differ from state to state and often depend on whether the water is a river, lake, or ocean. The doctrine of riparian rights is an old one, having its origins in English common law. Specifically, persons who own land adjacent to a stream have the right to make reasonable use of the stream's natural flow on those lands within the watershed. (The emphasis on natural flow means that riparian rights cannot be claimed for long-term storage of water in a reservoir.) Riparian users of a stream share the streamflow among themselves, and the concept of priority of use (Prior Appropriation Doctrine) is not applicable. Under drought conditions, the users share shortages. Riparian rights cannot be sold or transferred for use on nonriparian land. Riparian rights to the waters of a lake, as opposed to a flowing stream, are often referred to as Littoral Water Rights. Also see Appropriative Water Rights, Prescribed Water Rights, and Reserved Water Rights.

RIPARIAN ZONE—See Riparian Areas.

RIVER—A natural stream of water of considerable volume, larger than a brook or creek. A river has its stages of development, youth, maturity, and old age. In its earliest stages a river system drains its basin imperfectly; as valleys are deepened, the drainage becomes more perfect, so that in maturity the total drainage area is large and the rate of erosion high. The final stage is reached when wide flats have developed and the bordering lands have been brought low.

RIVERINE—Relating to, formed by, or resembling a river including tributaries, streams, brooks, etc. Also see Riparian.

RIVERINE (SYSTEMS)—Open-water habitats. Typically include all open water areas that occur within a defined channel of a stream as well as along perennial and intermittent stretches of streams and along some major dry washes. In some cases, riverine systems are bounded by Palustrine Wetlands that develop in the floodplain on either side of the defined channel. The riverine system and the adjacent palustrine wetlands are often referred to as Riparian Habitat. Also see Wetlands and Wetlands, Paulustrine. [See Appendix W-3 for an explanation of the Wetland and Deepwater Habitat Classification System and more detailed information on these Systems.]

Tinman

[This message was edited by tinman on Thu Dec 11th, 2003 at 23:37.]

Oh, I have missed you, Tinman! There are some great words there, some that are new to me.

<throat clearing>

So, coastal wasn't a bad answer?

(Actually "estuary" and its derivatives was the word I kept trying to remember.)

I didn't think it was the right word, but I couldn't remember it. Ugh. A word I couldn't scratch!