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Even the biggest living creatures sometimes die quietly and slip unnoticed to their rest. A giant whale might have done just that if not for the crew of the research vessel Nautilus. They spotted the whale's mostly complete skeleton decomposing off the California coast on Monday.
"Coming across a natural whale fall is pretty uncommon," one of the researchers says in a video posted to YouTube. A "whale fall" is the rather romantic phrase used when a whale's carcass sinks to the ocean floor, where it provides a buffet bonanza for smaller sea creatures.
"The whale skeleton can support rich communities for years to decades, both as a hard substrate (or surface) for invertebrate colonization and as a source of sulfides from the decay of organic compounds of whale bones," the National Ocean Service explains on its site. "Microbes live off of the energy released from these chemical reactions and form the basis of ecosystems for as long as the food source lasts.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Friday August 05 2016, @06:15AM
where the fuck do they think whales go when they die?
it's not like most of them are winding up on beaches around the world, and they aren't floating around waiting for ships to hit them...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @06:31AM
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was...
Water dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean
Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
Into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @06:47AM
I always assumed most marine life either washes up on a beach or is picked to near nothingness before it ever hits the ground leaving very little for the bottom feeders. Though in that line of thinking I only considered it for smaller fish and not a whale.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @11:21AM
where the fuck do they think whales go when they die?
Undoubtedly yet another thing, that Francis doesn't know. Deep like the ocean. Shallow like a community of frenzy feeding hagfish.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @01:40PM
Uh... that's davester666?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @10:02PM
Yes, but he is talking about someone else, like Francis, just for example.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @06:22PM
"where the fuck do they think whales go when they die?"
Whale heaven, obviously.