CLAY 



clamshell snapper — A bottom sampling device 

 used to collect a small amount (less than 1 pint) 

 of material from the ocean floor. It has metal 

 jaws that snap shut when the device touches the 

 bottom. 



clapotis — The French equivalent for a type of 

 standing wave. In American usage it is usually 

 associated with the standing wave phenomenon 

 caused by the reflection of a wave train from 

 a breakwater, bulkhead, or steep beach. (73) 



Clarke-Bumpus quantitative plankton sam- 

 pler — A plankton collecting device equipped 

 with a flowmeter to determine the volume of 

 water passed through it in a given time interval. 



class — See classification of organisms. 



classification of marine environments — The 

 components of this classification commonly are 

 used with or without the terms division, region, 

 province, or zone. (40) 



classification of organisms — The grouping of 

 plants and animals according to natural rela- 

 tionships ; the groups range progressively from 

 those based upon broad and general relation- 

 ships to those based upon narrow and specific 

 relationships. One of the large marine sharks 

 (the white shark) is classified below; the groups 

 are listed in increasing order of specificity. 



Kingdom : Animal 

 Sublvingdom : Metazoa 

 Phylum : Chordata 

 Subphylum : Gnat- 

 ho.stomata 

 Class : Chon- 



driehthyes 

 Subclass : 

 Blasmo- 

 branchii 



Order : Selachii 



Suborder : Galeoidea 

 Family: Lamnidae 

 Subfamily : Lamnini 

 Genus : Carcha- 

 rorlon 

 Species : car- 

 charias 



class interval — A range of values of a variable; 

 an interval used in dividing the scale of the vari- 

 able for the puqjose of tabulating the frequency 

 distribution of a sample. (5) 



clastic — A rock composed principally of detritus 

 transported mechanically into its place of final 

 deposition. Sandstones and shales are the com- 

 monest elastics. Limestones are not clastic rocks 

 unless formed of particles derived from pre- 

 existing limestone. (2) 



clastic rock — >See clastic. 



clay — As a size tenn, refers to sediment particles 

 ranging from 0.0039 to 0.00024 millimeter, in 

 which case it includes rock flour, calcareous 

 muds, aragonite, etc. Mineralogically, clay is a 

 hydrous aluminum silicate material with plastic 

 properties and a crystal structure. Common 

 clay minerals are kaolinite, montmorillonite, 

 and illite. See phi grade scale. 



— littoral 

 (Intertidal) 



PELAGIC (Water) 



Neritic 



Oceanic 



Epipelagic 

 Mesopehgic 

 Bathypehgic 

 Abyssopelagic 



BENTHIC (Bottom) 

 Supra-littoral 

 Littoral (Intertidal; 

 Sublittoral 

 Inner 

 Outer 

 Bothyai 

 Abyssal 

 Hodai 



Note: 



Question morks indicate that the limits, or 

 discrete character, of the environment ore 

 uncertain. 

 ^^y^/j/y///. Boundary indefinite. 



•BENTHIC 



CLASSIFICATION OF MARINE ENVIRONMENTS 



(NRC; MEDG^ETH. IPST] 



33 



