What happens when a whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor?

The answer

When a large whale dies and sinks to the abyssal plain, it creates a whale fall - a localized ecosystem that progresses through distinct stages over decades. In the mobile scavenger stage, hagfish, sleeper sharks, and crabs consume soft tissue within months. The enrichment-opportunist stage sees polychaete worms colonize the bones for years. Finally, the sulfophilic stage can last 50 to 100 years as bacteria break down lipids in whale bones, producing hydrogen sulfide that supports chemosynthetic organisms similar to those at hydrothermal vents. Over 400 species have been identified at whale falls, including at least 30 species found nowhere else, such as Osedax bone-eating worms discovered in 2002.