I'm looking for a one-word opposite of "submerged". The context is a study where I'm looking into species that live below the surface and thus can be conveniently labeled as "Submerged" in my plot. However I can't find a good word to describe those found living on the surface (of a peat bog).
Emerged or surficial(?) comes to mind but since I'm not a native speaker I'm not too sure that I can use it that way.
The word Turf animals or Turf could be used to describe something that is related to Ground/Land. Apart from Turf, Terra-firma could be used which means Ground.
Perhaps "afloat" would do, though its colloquial hue may not fit well in a scientific study.
Try surface, as in surface creatures. -- Cambridge
adj. 1. working or operating on the top of the land or sea, rather than under the land or sea, or by air
Or maybe, surfaced, as opposed to submerged -- ODO
adj. 2. Having risen or come up to the surface of the water or the ground
"A gull will land on the back of a surfaced whale and rip at its flesh and blubber."
I am not sure if it suits your purpose but 'emergent' could work better than emerged.
Superficial also means 'on or at the surface' but has the drawback of commonly being used to mean 'insignificant'.
I would suggest intertidal fauna.
The shallowest marine environments are those forming the transition between land and sea, and include intertidal habitats that are regularly exposed to air. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/intertidal-ecology
Unsubmerged isn't a word but might work in your story. After all, unburrow isn't a word, but even after 20 years of use in the Starcraft universe few have noticed.
I'm also finding that nonsubmerged is used often in the medical field, however, they sometimes hyphenate it into a phrase: non-submerged.
Perhaps you would like the rather rare term subaerial. This term is used chiefly in geology and botany, but I think could stretch to biology, as well. From Oxford Dictionaries:
Existing, occurring, or formed in the open air or on the earth's surface, not under water or underground
Notably, this term is used in opposition with subaqueous, submarine, and submerged, as in this quote from Wikipedia:
Some pond plants have subaerial leaves as well as their submerged ones (water plantain, flowering rush,...).
I first looked at "superficial" but that had too many other meanings that would be distractive. I came across "external" and "exterior" which might be useful to describe the fauna that dwell in the non-submerged aspect of a bog environment.
“Emersed”. It means to have something that is normally fully submerged to be out of water. Typically used to describe aquatic plants, but can be used for other subjects as well.
