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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: 2) by davester666 on Friday August 05 2016, @08:39AM
Yeah, they totally needed to blow the carcass up, just the way they did in the good old days. That way, you get the spectacle of the actual blowing-up event, followed by the weeks of discussion about whales (namely, "what the hell is that smell?"), a good variety of different sizes of whale bits spread over the general vicinity for scavengers of all sizes.
And yes, that old video of them blowing up that whale still makes me laugh. Especially the running at the end.
Now it's just a waste, taking up space in a landfill.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday August 05 2016, @09:00AM
Cat Food!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday August 05 2016, @04:13PM
Take them down to the riverside
And throw them over the side
To be swept up by a current
And taken to the ocean
To be eaten by some fishes
Who were eaten by some fishes
And swallowed by a whale
Who grew so old
He decomposed
He died and left his body
To the bottom of the ocean
Now everybody knows
That when a body decomposes
The basic elements
Are given back to the ocean
And the sea does what it oughta
And soon there's salty water
(That's not too good for drinking)
'Cause it tastes just like a teardrop
You're betting on the pantomime horse...