What Happens When a Giant Whale Dies and Sinks? | OceanX

Edited. When a whale dies at sea, it sinks to the ocean floor, and what happens next is one of the most dramatic ecosystems on Earth. A whale fall can sustain a thriving community of deep-sea life for decades. First, large scavengers like sharks and hagfish strip the flesh. Then, enrichment opportunists colonise the bones. Finally, sulfophilic bacteria break down the lipids, creating chemical conditions that support a whole food web, including species found nowhere else on the planet. From bone-eating zombie worms (Osedax) to chemosynthetic bacteria that replace photosynthesis in the darkness, whale falls are one of the deep sea's most important, and least visible ecosystems.