Discover new animals on whale carcasses

When a whale dies, its body sinks deep into the sea and becomes food for the entire ecosystem. Researchers at the University of Gotheburg, Sweden, have discovered previously unknown creatures that use whale carcasses as food. Researchers use DNA technology to show that these species in the ocean are much more diverse than we think.

Whale carcasses become an abundant source of food, and there is no way of knowing when and where a whale will die. Moreover, their bodies will not last forever but will decompose quickly. However, there are some marine species that specialize in finding whale corpses and turning it into food.

Abundant source of nutrition

Through the use of underwater cameras to study the ecology around whale corpses, researchers from the University of Gothenburg have obtained results. A dead whale will become an abundant source of nutrition. In fact, the whole body of a whale will become a food that will normally sink from the surface to the seabed within 2000 years and will become a rich source of food for countless species. First, sharks and mezzanine will eat their flesh, then countless creatures will come and turn the remaining whale skeleton into food.

The creatures specialize in eating whale carcasses

A group of creatures with relatives on the face insect named bristleworm is found commonly on whale skeletons. Some bristworm species specialize in eating whale corpses because they cannot find other food sources. A typical example is Osedax species. They use the leg system to pierce the whale's skeleton when searching for food. Some other creatures specialize in eating fast-growing bacteria around the whale skeleton.

When a whale dies, its body sinks deep into the sea and becomes food for the entire ecosystem. Researchers at the University of Gotheburg, Sweden, have discovered previously unknown creatures that use whale carcasses as food. Researchers use DNA technology to show that these species in the ocean are much more diverse than we think. (Photo: Craig R Smith)

A thesis of the Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg has described no less than 9 species of organisms belonging to the type of hard-haired bacteria that have never been known before.

Four of the new species of creatures are found on a 125-meter-deep whale bath in the new Kosterhave national park off the coast of Sweden. The five remaining creatures were found on the whale skeleton deep in the sea of ​​California, USA. Tree-shaped family diagram of brishleworms surveyed with the use of molecular data.DNA analysis shows some mysterious bristleworm species

These studies show that life adaptation on whale carcasses takes place in species with different evolutionary paths. The study also found that some animals are widely believed to live on Earth, in fact quite mysterious. This result is very important to our understanding of how animals are distributed on the earth and how different animals reside on the planet.