pelagic

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin pelagicus (and possibly pelagus); from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek πελαγικός (pelagikós), from πέλαγος (pélagos, “sea”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈlædʒɪk/, /pɛˈlædʒɪk/
• Rhymes: -ædʒɪk

Adjective

pelagic (comparative more pelagic, superlative most pelagic)

1. (biology) Living in the open sea rather than in coastal or inland waters.
   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 13:

     Besides, seeing a shark in an aquarium tank is not the same as seeing a shark in the wild, in its natural, pelagic habitat.

2. Of or pertaining to oceans.

Derived terms

• pelagic trawl
• pelagic zone
• abyssopelagic
• allopelagic
• archipelagic
• bathypelagic
• chimopelagic
• epipelagic
• eupelagic
• hadopelagic
• hemipelagic
• mesopelagic
• micropelagic
• semipelagic

Translations

living in the open sea

• Catalan: pelàgic
• Dutch: pelagisch (nl)
• Finnish: pelaginen (fi)
• French: pélagique (fr)
• Galician: peláxico
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pelagico (it)
• Japanese: 外洋性の (gaiyōsēno)
• Korean: 원양 (ko) (wonyang)
• Portuguese: pelágico (pt)
• Spanish: pelágico (es)

Noun

pelagic (plural pelagics)

1. (biology) Any organism that lives in the open sea rather than in coastal or inland waters.

See also

• benthic
• oceanic
• planktonic