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Whale Fall Ecosystem


Sinduja Karunanithi
Pages: 63-74
ISBN: 978-93-5834-967-2


Advances in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (Volume -1)

Advances in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
(Volume - 1)

Abstract

Whale falls establish remarkable organic habitat islands on the seafloor. When the body of the dead whale sinks to the ocean floor, that occurrence is known as whale fall. Great-whale carcasses may support a sequence of heterotrophic and chemosynthetic microbial assemblages in the energy-poor deep sea environment due to their massive body sizes and high bone-lipid content. Whale fall community has been speculated to pass through four stages of ecological succession. At whale falls, deep-sea metazoan populations go through a series of overlapping successional stages that differ depending on carcass size, water depth, and environmental conditions. Many new organisms and evolutionary novelties can be found in these metazoan groups, including bone-eating worms and snails, as well as a variety of sulphur bacteria grazers. Hence, various studies suggest that the Whale fall can act as hotspot for specialized fauna.

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