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Beaked Whales

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Whale Graveyard at Deep Indian Ocean Reveals Hidden Deep-Sea Life and Ancient Fossils
science24 days ago

Whale Graveyard at Deep Indian Ocean Reveals Hidden Deep-Sea Life and Ancient Fossils

Scientists diving in the Diamantina Fracture Zone, about 20,000 feet deep in the Indian Ocean, have found the world’s largest whale graveyard, recording nearly 500 whale bones and estimating up to 10 million dead whales across a 660-mile area. The site supports a thriving community of deep-sea life around whale falls, including fossils up to 5.3 million years old and potential undiscovered species, reinforcing the idea that whale carcasses act as evolutionary hotspots and stepping stones for sulfide-dwelling organisms.

via Good News Network|
#beaked-whales#deep-sea-life#fossils
5.3-million-year-old whale necropolis unveils ancient deep-sea cetacean evolution
science1 month ago

5.3-million-year-old whale necropolis unveils ancient deep-sea cetacean evolution

Scientists mapped a 1,200‑km stretch of the Diamantina Zone in the southeastern Indian Ocean, identifying five active whale falls and 476 fossil cetaceans dating back to at least 5.3 million years ago. The assemblage includes beaked- and baleen-whale remains, with new species such as Pterocetus diamantinae sp. nov., and hosts diverse sulfophilic communities on the carcasses. Strontium‑isotope dating places ages up to ~5.26 Ma, revealing a long-running deep-sea whale‑fall archive and suggesting a potential deep-sea “supercorridor” for chemosynthetic fauna across the region.

via Nature|
#beaked-whales#deep-sea-ecology#diamantina-zone
Ocean's Deep Graveyard: 500-Whale Necropolis Reveals Deep-Sea Evolution
science1 month ago

Ocean's Deep Graveyard: 500-Whale Necropolis Reveals Deep-Sea Evolution

Scientists exploring the Diamantina Fracture Zone in the Indian Ocean documented about 485 whale‑fall sites across a 1,200 km stretch, including 476 fossilized whales and five active whale‑fall ecosystems, some skulls dating to ~5.26–5.3 million years ago. The find, described in Nature, is the largest, deepest whale graveyard yet and acts as a living archive of beaked whale evolution, while showing that deep‑sea ecosystems can thrive around whale falls via chemosynthetic microbial communities, Osedax worms, and other life concentrated around these carcasses.

via ScienceAlert|
#beaked-whales#cetacean-evolution#deep-sea
Indian Ocean whale graveyard unlocks vast deep-sea ecosystems
science1 month ago

Indian Ocean whale graveyard unlocks vast deep-sea ecosystems

Chinese researchers using the Fendouzhe submersible documented what appears to be the world’s largest whale graveyard in the Indian Ocean’s Diamantina Zone, with about 485 fossil skeletons and an estimated 10 million carcasses over a 1,200-km area, dating as far back as 5.3 million years. The site supports vibrant deep-sea life around whale falls and stores roughly 6.7 million tonnes of carbon, linking these events to hydrothermal-vent ecosystems and offering new insights into whale evolution; the team also identified a new whale species.

via CBS News|
#beaked-whales#carbon-sequestration#deep-sea-biology