Prolific Afterlife on Whale
by Crispin T.S. Little
Notes:
Summary: By 1987, researchers found a skeletal remain of a whale with bones filled with many aquatic species living in them on the seafloor. These organisms include worms, clams, and many fish, so they feed off the bones. Investigators have described that more than 400 species live in and around sunken whale carcasses. First, the whale arrives dead on the seafloor, many dishes including the bigger fishes feed off the whales blubber and meat. The second stage, called the enrichment opportunist stage, it lasts up about two years. Ever since the whale fall was discovered, researchers found that they help the ecosystem. The remains of the whale is provided as food for organisms that can't get it. If there's fewer whale fall then it makes it difficult for animals to get food and one chemosynthetic site to another.
Reflection: Whales are important for the ecosystem because if they didn't exist then the whole ecosystem would be different or would be in great danger! Every part of the whale provides food for an organism or even a home. We shouldn't kill whales, because if there isn't whale falls in the oceans many organisms would die. Since they won't b able to get one chemosynthetic site to another.
- A skeletal remain of a whale with bones filled with many aquatic species that are living in them was found by researchers.
- The first, which they called the mobile scavenger stage, starts when the whale carcass arrives on the seafloor. Hordes of fishes including the bigger fishes, they all ate the meat and the blubber of the whale
- The second stage, called the enrichment opportunist stage, lasts up to two years. Fishes populate the whale's carcasses and blubber that were left over by the scavengers.
- Whale bones are rich in lipids.
- A 40-ton whale carcasss may contain 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms.
- The average distance from one whale to the next would then be just 12 kilometers
- Osedax- a worm that feeds on the bones of whales. It uses green, fleshy “roots” to tunnel into exposed whale bones, presumably to obtain lipids or proteins.
- Osedax destroy the exposed whale bones, this affects it entire habitat.
- Less active whale falls should make it more difficult for animals to get from one chemosynthetic site to another.
- In 1992, whale fall communities were recognized by mollusk fossils belonging to groups that host chemosynthetic bacteria or graze on microbial mats at chemosynthetic sites
- Whale collection contains no remains of soft bodies animals
- Earliest whale-fall communities from the late Eocene and the Oligocene were dominated by clams that also occur in nonchemosynthetic habitats
Summary: By 1987, researchers found a skeletal remain of a whale with bones filled with many aquatic species living in them on the seafloor. These organisms include worms, clams, and many fish, so they feed off the bones. Investigators have described that more than 400 species live in and around sunken whale carcasses. First, the whale arrives dead on the seafloor, many dishes including the bigger fishes feed off the whales blubber and meat. The second stage, called the enrichment opportunist stage, it lasts up about two years. Ever since the whale fall was discovered, researchers found that they help the ecosystem. The remains of the whale is provided as food for organisms that can't get it. If there's fewer whale fall then it makes it difficult for animals to get food and one chemosynthetic site to another.
Reflection: Whales are important for the ecosystem because if they didn't exist then the whole ecosystem would be different or would be in great danger! Every part of the whale provides food for an organism or even a home. We shouldn't kill whales, because if there isn't whale falls in the oceans many organisms would die. Since they won't b able to get one chemosynthetic site to another.