{"id":849742,"date":"2026-08-07T19:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/849742\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T19:20:09","slug":"their-lipid-and-protein-laden-bodies-create-unique-nutrient-rich-ecosystems-that-may-sustain-creatures-of-the-abyss-for-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/849742\/","title":{"rendered":"Their lipid- and protein-laden bodies create unique, nutrient-rich ecosystems that may sustain creatures of the abyss for decades\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dead whales sink to the ocean floor, reaching depths of several thousand metres relatively intact. Their lipid- and protein-laden bodies create unique, nutrient-rich ecosystems that may sustain creatures of the abyss for decades.<\/p>\n<p>What happens to dead whales?<\/p>\n<p>The whales\u2019 flesh is picked away by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/shark-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sharks<\/a>, crabs and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/what-is-the-slimiest-animal-discover-a-terrifying-animal-of-the-deep-that-will-give-you-nightmares\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hagfish<\/a> \u2013 the latter can absorb nutrients directly through their skin while they forage inside carcasses.<\/p>\n<p>Whale skeletons are then covered with colourful, delicate, flower-like creatures \u2013 zombie worms. These underwater relatives of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/facts-about-earthworms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">earthworm<\/a> don\u2019t have a mouth and guts, but instead secrete acid and enzymes to drill into bones, and feed with the help of symbiotic bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>The acid borings also double up as shelter holes, and a single whale skeleton can house between half a million and a million adult zombie worms.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, commercial whaling reduces the number of sunken carcasses, and thus removes valuable sources of nutrients, potentially leading to a lower species richness in the depths.<\/p>\n<p>Main image: humpback whale \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dead whales sink to the ocean floor, reaching depths of several thousand metres relatively intact. Their lipid- and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-849742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}