Decompression Sickness. Caisson Diseases . Disease, Caisson . Diseases, Caisson . Sickness, Decompression . Bends . Caisson Disease . A condition occurring as a result of exposure to a rapid fall in ambient pressure. Gases, nitrogen in particular, come out of solution and form bubbles in body fluid and blood. These gas bubbles accumulate in joint spaces and the peripheral circulation impairing tissue oxygenation causing disorientation, severe pain, and potentially death. . 0.54
Benthic Fauna. Benthos . Benthic Organisms . All organisms living at the bottom [of the sea]. It includes, the ones living on the surface of the ocean floor (epibentos) or well buried in the sediment (endobentos). They can be plants (phytobenthos) or animals (zoobenthos), macroscopic (megalobenthos, macrobenthos) of average size (meiobenthos) or microscopic (microbenthos). The benthos is particularly important in productive coastal waters, where the phytobenthos receives enough light to grow and feed dense populations of zoobenthos. (Free translation of the original: http://www.pes.fvet.edu.uy/cienmar/madid/glosario.html; 01-10-2006) . 0.49