Antarctica’s first-ever whale skeleton found
Marine biologists have for the first time found a whale skeleton on the ocean floor near Antarctica, with nine new species of deep-sea organisms thriving on the bones.
The discovery by UK researchers was made almost a km below the surface in an undersea crater near the South Sandwich Islands. Worldwide, only six natural whale skeletons have ever been found on the seafloor. Scientists have previously studied whale carcasses, known as a “whale fall”, by sinking bones and whole carcasses. “The planet’s largest animals are also a part of the ecology of the very deep ocean, providing a rich habitat of food and shelter
for deep sea animals for many years after their death,” said Diva Amon, lead author of the paper.
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