Definition: Living in the fluid medium (water or air) but unable to maintain their position or distribution independently of the movement of the water/air mass (adapted from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Definition: A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A \r\ntaxon is presumed Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, \r\nat appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed \r\nto record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon’s life cycle and life form.
Definition: Marine sediment that accumulates within shallow regions of the oceanic basin close to continents, such as the continental shelf, or continental slope
Definition: The marine benthic biome (benthic meaning 'bottom') encompasses the seafloor and includes such areas as shores, littoral or intertidal areas, marine coral reefs, and the deep seabed.
Definition: Capable of creating a new organism by combining the genetic material of two gametes, which may come from two parent organisms or from a single organism, in the case of self-fertilizing hermaphrodites.
Definition: A structural quality inhering in a bearer by virtue of the bearer's being thicker or more closely packed together; pressed tightly together.
Definition: Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France. URL for main institutional website: http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/science/science/sommaire.xsp
