We all know that whales are massive mammals that populate the oceans, but have we ever really thought about what happens when whales die? To put this into perspective a blue whale on average weights about 200,000-300,000 pounds. That is 200,000 pounds of dead whale that sinks to the bottom of an ocean. It can take decades for this carcass to completely break down. Something we can all assume is that once a whale dies, its body sinks to the bottom, however, unless you’ve learned about the topic i doubt you’d guess that the same whale carcass will become the center of an entire ecosystem known as a whale fall. There are multiple stages of decomposition involved in whale falls. Initially mobile scavengers like sharks and hag fish eat the soft tissue from the bones of the whale. Scavengers can eat anywhere from 80-130 pounds of flesh from the whale a day for a span of approximately 2 years. After this, enrichment opportunists come in and colonize the bones and surrounding areas that are still infused with organic matter and reap the benefits of this rare food source, this can take an additional two years. Finally bacteria come to colonize the skeleton of the whale and break down the lipids stored in the bones. This last stage is the longest and it can take anywhere from 50-100 years for the skeleton to be completely broken down. This is 50 to 100 years that other organisms are benefiting from this whale fall. Multiple generations of organisms get to reap the substantial benefits of this dead body. In the abyssal zone, which is also known as the deep sea, there are limited resources so many organisms literally depend on the death of whales. Whale falls are a primary source of nutrients for these deep sea organisms and play a major role in the life of those that reside near the dark, cold ocean floor.
click the whale fall link to watch a video and read a brief explanation of a whale fall
