Scientists discover the largest and oldest whale graveyard ever found – 10 million carcasses may lie on the ocean floor

More than 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water – over 139 million square miles in total. That sheer scale makes it impossible to explore every corner of it. The seafloor still holds countless mysteries, from shipwrecks yet to be found to species that have never been identified.

It also preserves traces of ancient life that now sustain entirely different ecosystems. In what researchers have described as a “completely unexpected” discovery, a team of Chinese, Italian, and New Zealand scientists has uncovered what is believed to be the largest and oldest whale graveyard ever found. Located nearly 23,000 feet below the surface in the Indian Ocean, the site contains the remains of hundreds of whales.

Some of the skeletons belong to species that have long since gone extinct, while others are far more recent. Perhaps even more remarkable is the thriving ecosystem that has developed around the remains. The carcasses provide food for countless deep-sea organisms. Their very presence has surprised scientists, since whale remains would normally be expected to erode over time under the action of seawater. In this case, however, they have been exceptionally well preserved.

“The density of whale remains reaches 759.5 individuals per square kilometer. Nearly 10 million whale remains could be lying on the seafloor of this trench,” Xiaotong Peng, a researcher at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IDSSE), wrote in a study published in Nature. That equates to about 1,967 whale remains per square mile.

Some of the remains date back 5.3 million years. Researchers discovered them during a series of dives from the research vessel Tansuoyihao. In 2023, the expedition surveyed about 746 miles of the Diamantina Zone, off the western coast of Australia, where scientists documented 485 different species.

How whale carcasses create life in the deep ocean

From a small submersible, researchers observed numerous strange animals – many of them previously unknown to science – feeding on the whale carcasses. “The findings support the hypothesis that deep-sea whale falls act as evolutionary hotspots and biogeographic stepping stones for sulfide-dependent fauna in the deep ocean,” the study’s authors wrote.

Among the animals feeding on the remains were jellyfish, bone-eating worms, bivalves, and brittle stars. Researchers estimate there could be more than 10 million whale carcasses across the wider study area. The soft tissues and lipids they contain are equivalent to about 7.4 million US tons of sequestered carbon, providing an important source of nutrients for deep-sea life.

According to the researchers, fossils recovered during trawl fishing suggest that similar hidden archives could be widespread throughout the world’s deep oceans.

Amy Baco-Taylor of Florida State University described the find to AFP as an “extraordinary discovery that will likely provide many new insights.” Meanwhile, American paleontologist Stephen Godfrey called it a “truly unique discovery,” comparing it with other major paleontological finds from the past.

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