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CallFromMargin t1_j6lz27y wrote

Generally when whale dies it's corps support whole ecosystems, and can take years to decompose. First, large scavengers will feed on it, and those will be on or near the surface, then small bits and pieces will start falling down and support deep ocean ecologies, but we don't truly understand those. Depending on how deep you go, they will feed anything from fish to microbes, and entire deep ocean ecologies rely on decomposing animal bits falling to ocean floor.

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weakherofan OP t1_j6lz9ki wrote

Ok but those fish now have the nutrients. I get that. But how do those nutrients then end up back on the surface. Or will all nutrients remain in the deep sea once they end up there?

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valeyard89 t1_j6maim7 wrote

A fish might eat another fish, then get caught by a fishing boat. But negligible. More nutrients are constantly being created at the surface (eg plankton) than any number of whalefalls.

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oblivious_fireball t1_j6m2iwk wrote

ocean currents or animals that migrate to shallower water at night will redeliver nutrients. over time other nutrients and minerals get reabsorbed with tectonics back into the earth and erupt out of volcanoes

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