Definition: The benthopelagic zone biome comprises regions of the marine water column which usually coincide with the benthic boundary layer (BBL) - the layer of isothermal and isohaline water contiguous to the sea floor. A general reversal in the declining gradient of pelagic biomass may be observed here, perhaps explained by viable nutrition on the sea floor being resuspended by bottom currents. This zone typically extends 100 m above the seafloor, but may reach upto1000 m during benthic storms.
Definition: Component found in mineralized skeletal tissue, (a specialized form of biogenic tissue in which the extracellular matrix is mineralized, and which functions in mechanical and structural support.)
Definition: length of a fish measured from the tip of the snout to the posterior end of the last vertebra or to the posterior end of the midlateral portion of the hypural plate. Simply put, this measurement excludes the length of the caudal fin