Whale fall — ecological cycle in the deep ocean

Yesterday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences “exploration one” ship carrying “deep sea warrior” manned submersible arrived in Sanya smoothly. This voyage started on March 10. One of the significant achievements of this voyage is that scientists first found a whale fall about 3 meters long in the South China Sea. Whale fall with hydrothermal and cold springs are called the “oasis” of deep-sea life. Experts said that at present, less than 50 modern natural whale fall had been found in the world, and the newly discovered whalebone has a long-term observation value for the change of the marine environment.

The ocean’s depths are supplied by nutrients falling down from the surface waters. Whale fall refers to a unique ecosystem formed by the slow sinking of a whale’s body into the seafloor when it dies in the ocean. Whale fall can provide a circulatory system dominated by decomposers for up to a hundred years.

Different stages of whale carcass decomposition support a range of marine communities. Scavengers eat soft tissue in a few months. Whalebones can support abundant communities for years to decades, either as hard substrates (or surfaces) for invertebrates to settle on or as sources of sulfide from the decay of organic compounds in whale bones. Microorganisms depend on the energy released by these chemical reactions to survive and form the basis of ecosystems for a sustained period of time from food sources.

One whale falls, as through blue breeze, gave life to other creatures. This is the whale’s last gentle gift to the sea.

15 Replies to “Whale fall — ecological cycle in the deep ocean”

  1. I wrote an essay before about the ocean animals are in danger of extinction, and indeed, a lot of sea creatures are only seen in photos because of overfishing. Whales are the great embodiment of Marine life, and I’ve read a story before about whales that when they learn that they’re going to die, they swim to another ocean and then they quietly sink to the bottom, feeding tens of thousands of creatures in the process. The whale was created by nature and finally returned to nature.

  2. This was very interesting and I had never heard of a whale fall before. It is interesting how one whale can provide for hundreds of organisms for so many years. This is another reason why whales should not be hunted and should be protected.

  3. This is such fascinating topic that I have never heard of. It’s crazy to think that, even after their life, whales are still such an important part of the ocean’s ecosystem. I always like to learn about the ocean and how animals live and survive because a lot of the ocean is still unexplored so I really liked reading about this topic.

  4. As the whale population became smaller and smaller, I was always wondering what the whale would become after death, or where it would go. Through the pictures, I can imagine the slow sinking of the whale to the bottom of the sea when it died. I learned that whale drops were part of the ecosystem.

  5. This is an unusual topic. The dead whale provides an oasis of life for Marine life, a tender and romantic gift from the whale to the ocean.From a complete body to a huge skeleton, nothing is left.Sometimes death is not the end, but the hope and life.

  6. I also earlier wrote about how marine life is deteriorating slowly. It is a shame that we humans destroy whatever we touch. The reduction in whale falls was inevitable.

  7. I think humans really need to pay attention to how to protect the environment. Because if we destroy the environment animals have no place to live.

  8. This is a genuinely very interesting topic. This is something I have never heard of but in our world makes sense. The ecosystems of earth are generally very efficient and balanced so it makes sense that bodies of whales can help to such a large degree after their death. Its also important to note that human intervention can change the delicate balance of the ecosystem

  9. This is a genuinely very interesting topic. This is something I have never heard of but in our world makes sense. The ecosystems of earth are generally very efficient and balanced so it makes sense that bodies of whales can help to such a large degree after their death. Its also important to note that human intervention can change the delicate balance of the ecosystem.

  10. This was very interesting and something I had never heard of before. It is fascinating how the ecosystem works and how the whales can contribute to the marine life even after months of their deaths. This is something we must keep in mind so that we always strive to keep ecosystems intact so that we do not ruin things like this.

  11. After reading the short articles, I know that the whales contributed a lot to the marine, which provides the sources to continue the ecosystems. However, whales are fewer and fewer nowadays, so we should not eat the wales and protect them, as they are unique mammals in the marine, and it is beneficial to the food chain of the ecosystems.

  12. I believe it is really important for people to pay attention to how they can safeguard the environment. Because if humans continue to ruin the ecosystem, there will be nowhere for 1v1 lol animals to live.

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