When a dead whale sinks to the seafloor, its 'whale fall' becomes an oasis feeding deep-sea life for decades — up to 190 species crowding a single skeleton, with bone-eating worms gnawing the bones for as long as a decade

When a dead whale sinks to the seafloor, its 'whale fall' becomes an oasis feeding deep-sea life for decades — up to 190 species crowding a single skeleton, with bone-eating worms gnawing the bones for as long as a decade

One whale skeleton on the deep seafloor can host an entire neighbourhood of animals. On whale skeletons studied, researchers have found as many as 190 species of macroscopic bottom-dwelling animals on a single skeleton. Biologists call the phenomenon a whale fall, and the name is almost literal: a body falls, and an oasis assembles around it. The setting matters. The abyssal plain is one of the hungriest places on Earth, a soft floor that lives …