Relating to the deep zone of an inland body of water where very little sunlight penetrates; located between the limnetic and the benthic zones.
Aquatic ecology
However, if some of the bottom area has fine-grained sediments and is free of all conspicuous plants and algae, this area is often considered the profundal zone.1990, Atlas of Alberta Lakes, page 45:
C. staphylinus is common and abundant in northern Europe and the USA, and is found in permanent shallow ponds, rivers and the littoral zone of lakes. It occurs also in deep alpine lakes, but not in the profundal zone.1997, A. D. Ansell, R. N. Gibson, Margaret Barnes, Oceanography And Marine Biology, volume 35, page 279:
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The profundal zone consists largely of two feeding guilds, benthivores and carnivores (predators), at least in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes.2004, Gerald L. Mackie, Gerry L. Mackie, Applied Aquatic Ecosystem Concepts, page 510:
profundal
noun
Etymology From Latin profundus (“deep”) + -al.
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Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of profundal zone.
Aquatic ecology
The ratio of Oligochaeta/Chironomidae was similar to those in profundals of oligotrophic lakes.1982 October 23, Jukka Särkkä, “On the ecology of littoral Oligochaeta of an oligotrophic Finnish lake”, in Ecography, →DOI:
The role of chironomids was, in general, important in the profundal of the reservoirs.1992 June 23, Esa Koskenniemi, “The role of chironomids (Diptera) in the profundal macrozoobenthos in Finnish reservoirs”, in Netherland Journal of Aquatic Ecology, →DOI:
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Tubifex (Peloscolex) nomurai, which was recorded from profundal bottoms deeper than 400 m in Lake Tazawa, is the only species identified solely from the profundal of oliogotrophic caldera lakes.2001 November 23, Akifumi Ohtaka, “Oligochaetes in Lake Towada, Japan, an oligotrophic caldera”, in Hydrobiologia, →DOI: