Scientists in Disbelief After Spotting a Rare Whale Carcass at the Bottom of Antarctic Ocean

Every living organism is a part of the circle of life, as depicted by Disney’s The Lion King. However, in real life, this phenomenon may sound a little bizarre. When a large marine creature like a whale dies, its body drifts to the ocean floor in a process called “whale fall.” As the dead whale’s body sits lifeless on the floor, it turns into a nutritional bounty or a feast for the organisms living in the underwater ecosystem. For decades, probably even centuries, zillions of sea creatures live off the whale’s carcass by stripping it of vital nutrients and burrowing into its bones to find some more.

In a study published in Polar Biology, researchers documented the discovery of an Antarctic minke whale’s carcass in the waters of Antarctica’s Palmer Deep, a natural sediment trap and an inner-shelf trough inhabited by rookeries of gentoo and chinstrap penguins. The discovery was made during a manned submersible dive in early 2017 at a depth of 3,100 feet off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. According to the paper, this represents the highest-latitude natural whale fall reported to date. "It's rare and extremely lucky to come across a natural whale fall site," Kathrin Bolstad, ecology professor at the Auckland University of Technology who led the study, told Newsweek.

Bolstad noted that the location of the carcass makes this discovery unusual because, typically, most whale falls have been observed in the north Pacific, along the coasts of California and Japan. “Whale falls,” researchers explained, “represent large organic deposits on the sea floor that may quickly attract a diverse assemblage of opportunistic and specialized organisms.” They added that natural whale falls provide intriguing glimpses into the ephemeral oases of productivity and often yield novel insights, such as the “possibility of an early skin-sloughing” before the mobile-scavenger stage.

This skeleton, in particular, was gigantic, measuring about 6.5 feet long. Bolstad estimated that it was probably lying on the seafloor for about a year or two. During this period, the skeleton was probably nibbled by several colonized creatures making up the aquatic ecosystem. "Most whale fall sites will have many dozens, maybe hundreds of different species taking advantage of this sudden food bonanza. Many more species were probably present than we were able to see on camera, but those we did see were still fascinating to observe," she told the outlet.

Crawling around the whale’s carcass were different types of sea creatures, including crabs, macrourids, annelids, and crustaceans. One of the most abundant organisms discovered in its vicinity was “Ophryotrocha,” which has been reported from an experimental whale fall near Antarctica’s infamous Deception Island. In addition to these organisms, the carcass was surrounded by beds of sediment whose darkened tones hinted at some sulfonic activity.

The carcass also revealed evidence of a nutrient-rich sea floor teeming with “drift algal pieces” rich in carbon and nitrogen content. Fragments of greenish sheet-like pieces scattered around were likely dead “thallis.” Then, there were also sections of the brown alga, unidentifiable worms, and decaying fragments and clumps of brown alga. All these elements provided clues to a nutrient-rich ecosystem. "There is still a huge amount to learn about whale fall sites and animals, including many species that are not yet known to science," said Bolstad.