Pelagics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Relating to organisms that inhabit the open sea rather than coastal or bottom environments
2. Pertaining to fish and marine life living in the water column of the deep ocean
3. Describing species that thrive in the pelagic zone, often far from land or seafloor habitats

Etymology: "Pelagics" is the plural of "pelagic," which comes from Latin "pelagicus," itself taken from the Ancient Greek "pelagikos," meaning "of the sea." That Greek adjective grows from "pelagos," the word for open sea, which is the source of the sea-related sense that runs through the whole family. The Latin form may also have drawn on a Latin noun "pelagus," which had the same meaning. The "-ic" ending is the familiar Greek-derived adjective suffix, so the word is built on a root for the open sea plus a suffix that turns it into a description. English took the adjective in its ordinary sense of relating to the sea, and the specialised sense of marine life in the open water column came later, when ocean scientists needed a precise label for organisms living away from the seafloor and coasts.