Epibenthos - a group of benthic organisms that live on the surface of the bottom of a water body and never burrow into the ground (starfish, holothuria, crabs, etc.).

A distinction is made between epibenthos, organisms that live on the surface layer of the bottom sediment, and endofauna (infauna), organisms that live directly within the bottom sediment. Epibenthic organisms are either sessile or mobile.

Epibenthos (or epibenthic), from the ancient Greek epí 'over', lives on top of sediments, for example like a sea cucumber or a sea snail that crawls on the surface, unlike other epiphytes.