Published on •Updated
Scientists have uncovered a vast underwater whale graveyard in one of the most remote parts of the world’s oceans, revealing thriving communities of marine life feeding on the remains of the mammals that died millions of years ago.
The site, located seven kilometres beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean, is believed to be the deepest, oldest and largest whale graveyard ever discovered.
Researchers identified five whale carcass sites and numerous fossils during a series of deep-sea submersible expeditions in 2023. Among the remains were skulls belonging to beaked and baleen whales, with some bones dating back as far as 5.3 million years.
The graveyard supports a remarkable ecosystem of marine creatures. Scientists found jellyfish, tubeworms, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, squat lobsters and saltwater clams living on and around the whale remains.
Many of the species may be previously unknown to science, according to findings published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Whale falls occur when the carcass of a whale sinks to the ocean floor, providing a long-lasting food source for deep-sea organisms. According to Xikun Song, a biologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, the enormous size of whales and the unique chemistry of their bones make them ideal foundations for these ecosystems.
The discovery has surprised scientists not only because of the graveyard’s size, but also because of the extraordinary preservation of the bones over millions of years.
The study’s authors suggest several factors helped protect the remains. The bones are dense enough to withstand attacks from bone-eating worms, while their extreme depth shields them from being buried beneath sediment. A thin coating of minerals from seawater may also have slowed their deterioration.
“The potential number of specimens is just astounding,” said palaeontologist Stephen Godfrey with the Calvert Marine Museum in the US, who was not involved in the research.
Researchers are still uncertain why so many whales ended up in the same location. One possibility is that whales naturally lived and died in the area.
Others may have succumbed to exhaustion or illness associated with deep diving. The researchers also suggest that the V-shaped geography of the seabed could have channelled whale remains into the same resting place over millions of years.
Scientists say the discovery provides valuable insight into how life survives in some of the harshest environments on Earth.
Studying the whale graveyards “is important for understanding how life can adapt to such extreme conditions, not only due to the lack of light and oxygen but also to the incredibly high pressure,” said study co-author and palaeontologist Giovanni Bianucci from the University of Pisa in Italy.
The findings highlight the resilience of deep-sea ecosystems and the hidden biodiversity that continues to thrive far beyond the reach of sunlight.
Additional sources • AP