A vast whale graveyard + Zombie sea cucumbers
6/16/202618 min
Researchers just published details of a massive undersea graveyard of whales deep in the Indian Ocean. Spanning about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles), it contains whale remains dating back more than 5 million years—and at least five active whale fall sites still teeming with life. Fossil whale expert Nick Pyenson joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss these findings.
Then, marine biologists Rachel Sipler and Sara Jobson join Ira Flatow to describe an unusual discovery in certain species of sea cucumbers: If a foot or tentacle becomes detached, the parts don’t wither up and rot away. Even without a stomach, these parts appear to directly extract nutrients from the surrounding seawater. “Zombie” sea cucumber parts have been observed surviving for more than three years.
Guests:
Dr. Nick Pyenson is curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Rachel Sipler is a senior research scientist in the Bigelow Laboratory in East Boothbay, Maine.
Sara Jobson a PhD student at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. Johns, Canada.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsFlora Lichtman· Host0:00
[instrumental music] Hey, it's Flora, and you're listening to Science Friday. Researchers discovered a vast whale necropolis deep in the Indian Ocean, AKA a massive undersea graveyard for deceased whales. Stretching around 745 miles, it contains whale remains dating back over five million years, and it's not a dead and quiet place. There are at least five active whale fall sites in the zone teeming with life. Joining me now to talk about it is Nick Pyenson. He studies fossil whales and excavated an ancient whale graveyard in Chile's Atacama Desert. Hey, Nick, thanks for being here.
Nick Pyenson· Guest0:45
Thank you so much. Really happy to be here.
Flora Lichtman· Host0:46
Okay. You were not involved with this new find, but was it big news in your world?
Nick Pyenson· Guest0:53
Oh, yeah. I was so happy to see this paper, and it kind of blew my mind for a bit. Um, and there's several reasons for that. One is the incredible logistics it takes to get the scientific infrastructure out into the ocean to find this kind of site. They conducted at least 32 dives to go document the site. And I half expected to f- hear about these kinds of discoveries because we know about these whale superhighways that, uh, crosscut the world's oceans. Your chances of seeing a whale in the ocean is not equal