Tag: whales

World’s largest whale graveyard discovered by sub at bottom of ocean: “Completely unexpected”

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Underwater Jurassic marine reptiles swimming among ammonites and ancient fish

The world’s largest whale graveyard has been discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean by Chinese scientists, who found that the vast expanse of both new and ancient carcasses supports huge communities of deep-sea life. It is the deepest and oldest known whale graveyard on Earth, according to research published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, with some fossils dating back 5.3 million years. From inside a small submersible, the Chinese researchers saw many strange animals — many believed to be new to science — living off the whale carcasses.

A new, though extinct, species of whale was also identified among the nearly 500 skeletons that were found up to 7,000 meters deep along a 1,200-kilometer corridor of bones in the Indian Ocean west of Australia. Lead study author Xiaotong Peng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told AFP that the researchers were “astonished” when the scale of their discovery became clear. It was known that when whales die and drop to the seafloor, their sunken bodies — called “whale falls” — provide a source of food to deep-sea creatures. “But discovering a necropolis of this scale was completely unexpected: the size of distribution, the depth and the age range were far beyond anything we had imagined,” Xiaotong Peng said.

Source: World’s largest whale graveyard discovered by sub at bottom of ocean: “Completely unexpected” – CBS News

A talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.
Proverbs 11:13

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Of gray whales that enter San Francisco Bay, nearly 18% die there, scientists find

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humpback whale tail in morro bay california

Gray whales migrate from Arctic waters full of food to the lagoons of Baja Mexico—but as the climate crisis gathers pace, they have been sighted foraging in unexpected places. Recently, some have begun to explore the dangerously busy waters of San Francisco Bay. Scientists at the Marine Mammal Center and the California Academy of Sciences investigating an unexpectedly high death toll among gray whales have found that almost 20% of individuals seen entering the Bay died there, in large part due to boat strikes. The team’s study appears in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Source: Of gray whales that enter San Francisco Bay, nearly 18% die there, scientists find

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8