sublittoral

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   situated or formed in the permanently submerged coastal zone below the low-tide line

   Wave action continually reworked the sublittoral deposits along the rising coast.

2. 2
   noun

   the marine region extending from the low-water mark toward the edge of the continental shelf

   Kelp forests dominate parts of the rocky sublittoral.

Formed in the nineteenth century from sub-, 'below,' + littoral, 'of the shore,' from Latin litus, 'shore.' The term names the coastal zone lying below the portion exposed by ordinary low tides.

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