Deep Sea Graveyard Offers Glimpse of Rarely Seen Feeding Frenzy
- 10 years ago
Survey footage of the ocean floor just off of Angola has given scientists a rare opportunity to view underwater graveyard activity.
Survey footage of the ocean floor just off of Angola has given scientists a rare opportunity to view underwater graveyard activity.
The site holds the carcasses of four large creatures – a whale shark and three rays.
While finding perished whales is common, seeing this combination of deceased marine life is not.
Thus, the grouping is providing a unique opportunity to study feeding frenzies.
What the researchers mainly observed were fish. Each of the remains attracted about 50 of them.
Quite a few eel pouts were also found hanging around the site, but it wasn’t the already dead food source they were interested in.
They preferred to prey on the fish approaching the feeding area.
It remains unknown how all four carcasses ended up in a single, relatively small area, but it was observed that all of them likely hit the floor fully in tact.
Also considered is that the concentration isn’t that rare, but rather getting a glimpse of one is.
The area where they were found has been the focus of a large number of industrial surveys.
This particular recording was made by a team working for BP, an oil and gas company.
Survey footage of the ocean floor just off of Angola has given scientists a rare opportunity to view underwater graveyard activity.
The site holds the carcasses of four large creatures – a whale shark and three rays.
While finding perished whales is common, seeing this combination of deceased marine life is not.
Thus, the grouping is providing a unique opportunity to study feeding frenzies.
What the researchers mainly observed were fish. Each of the remains attracted about 50 of them.
Quite a few eel pouts were also found hanging around the site, but it wasn’t the already dead food source they were interested in.
They preferred to prey on the fish approaching the feeding area.
It remains unknown how all four carcasses ended up in a single, relatively small area, but it was observed that all of them likely hit the floor fully in tact.
Also considered is that the concentration isn’t that rare, but rather getting a glimpse of one is.
The area where they were found has been the focus of a large number of industrial surveys.
This particular recording was made by a team working for BP, an oil and gas company.