A
whale fall is the carcass of a
cetacean that has fallen into the
Bathyal or
Abyssal zone on the ocean floor. As they are found at depths of , they create complex localized
ecosystems that supply sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. This is unlike in
shallower waters, where a whale carcass will be consumed by
scavengers over a relatively short period of time. It was with the development of
deep-sea robotic exploration that whale falls were first observed in the late 1970s.