Antarctic Whale Fall Reveals Hidden Deep-Sea Food Web
A 10.7-meter Antarctic minke whale skeleton found at 1,444 meters near the South Sandwich Islands marks the first natural whale fall observed in Antarctic waters. In the sulfophilic stage, bacteria on decomposing bones generate chemical energy that sustains a new deep-sea community, including nine previously unknown species and bone-eating Osedax worms, with colonization linked to bone lipid content via the oil-gradient hypothesis. The ecosystem is powered by chemosynthesis rather than sunlight, and decomposition can take years to decades; researchers also note unresolved questions on how such isolated prey sources are located in the vast ocean and how whale falls connect to hydrothermal-vent habitats in polar regions.
