Marine shell species. Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute
Benthos is one of the main components of the marine ecosystems. It can be stable in time, characterizing the local situation, and is able to show the ecosystem dynamics in retrospective. It is also dynamic and shows pulses of new species distribution,such as the snow crab and the king crab, and changes in migrating benthic species (predatory and scavenger species such as sea stars, amphipods and snails with or without sea anemones).