The Contrasted Evolutionary Fates of Deep-Sea
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BIOPAPUA Expedition Highlighting Deep-Sea Benthic Biodiversity of Papua New- Guinea
Biopapua Expedition – Progress report MUSÉUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE 57 rue Cuvier 75005 PARIS‐ France BIOPAPUA Expedition Highlighting deep-sea benthic Biodiversity of Papua New- Guinea Submitted by: Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) Represented by (co‐PI): Dr Sarah Samadi (Researcher, IRD) Dr Philippe Bouchet (Professor, MNHN) Dr Laure Corbari (Research associate, MNHN) 1 Biopapua Expedition – Progress report Contents Foreword 3 1‐ Our understanding of deep‐sea biodiversity of PNG 4 2 ‐ Tropical Deep‐Sea Benthos program 5 3‐ Biopapua Expedition 7 4‐ Collection management 15 5‐ Preliminary results 17 6‐ Outreach and publications 23 7‐ Appendices 26 Appendix 1 27 NRI, note n°. 302/2010 on 26th march, 2010, acceptance of Biopapua reseach programme Appendix 2 28 Biopapua cruise Report, submitted by Ralph MANA (UPNG) A Report Submitted to School of Natural and Physical Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea Appendix 3 39 Chan, T.Y (2012) A new genus of deep‐sea solenocerid shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Penaeoidea) from the Papua New Guinea. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 32(3), 489‐495. Appendix 4 47 Pante E, Corbari L., Thubaut J., Chan TY, Mana R., Boisselier MC, Bouchet P., Samadi S. (In Press). Exploration of the deep‐sea fauna of Papua New Guinea. Oceanography Appendix 5 60 Richer de Forges B. & Corbari L. (2012) A new species of Oxypleurodon Miers, 1886 (Crustacea Brachyura, Majoidea) from the Bismark Sea, Papua New Guinea. Zootaxa. 3320: 56–60 Appendix 6 66 Taxonomic list: Specimens in MNHN and Taiwan collections 2 Biopapua Expedition – Progress report Foreword Biopapua cruise was a MNHN/IRD deep‐sea cruise in partnership with the School of Natural and Physical Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea. -
Extracellular and Mixotrophic Symbiosis in the Whale-Fall Mussel Adipicola Pacifica: a Trend in Evolution from Extra- to Intracellular Symbiosis
Extracellular and Mixotrophic Symbiosis in the Whale- Fall Mussel Adipicola pacifica: A Trend in Evolution from Extra- to Intracellular Symbiosis Yoshihiro Fujiwara1*, Masaru Kawato1, Chikayo Noda2, Gin Kinoshita3, Toshiro Yamanaka4,Yuko Fujita5, Katsuyuki Uematsu6, Jun-Ichi Miyazaki7 1 Chemo-Ecosystem Evolution Research (ChEER) Team, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Japan, 2 Keikyu Aburatsubo Marine Park, Miura, Japan, 3 Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, 4 Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan, 5 Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 6 Department of Technical Services, Marine Work Japan Ltd., Yokosuka, Japan, 7 Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Japan Abstract Background: Deep-sea mussels harboring chemoautotrophic symbionts from hydrothermal vents and seeps are assumed to have evolved from shallow-water asymbiotic relatives by way of biogenic reducing environments such as sunken wood and whale falls. Such symbiotic associations have been well characterized in mussels collected from vents, seeps and sunken wood but in only a few from whale falls. Methodology/Principal Finding: Here we report symbioses in the gill tissues of two mussels, Adipicola crypta and Adipicola pacifica, collected from whale-falls on the continental shelf in the northwestern Pacific. The molecular, morphological and stable isotopic characteristics of bacterial symbionts were analyzed. A single phylotype of thioautotrophic bacteria was found in A. crypta gill tissue and two distinct phylotypes of bacteria (referred to as Symbiont A and Symbiont C) in A. pacifica. Symbiont A and the A. crypta symbiont were affiliated with thioautotrophic symbionts of bathymodiolin mussels from deep-sea reducing environments, while Symbiont C was closely related to free-living heterotrophic bacteria. -
Evolutionary Relationships Within the "Bathymodiolus" Childressi Group
Cah. Biol. Mar. (2006) 47 : 403-407 Evolutionary relationships within the "Bathymodiolus" childressi group W. Jo JONES* and Robert C. VRIJENHOEK Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing CA 95064, USA, *Corresponding Author: Phone: 831-775-1789, Fax: 831-775-1620, E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Recent discoveries of deep-sea mussel species from reducing environments have revealed a much broader phylogenetic diversity than previously imagined. In this study, we utilize a commercially available DNA extraction kit to obtain high-quality DNA from two mussel shells collected eight years ago at the Edison Seamount near Papua New Guinea. We include these two species into a comprehensive phylogeny of all available deep-sea mussels. Our analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences supports previous conclusions that deep-sea mussels presently subsumed within the genus Bathymodiolus comprise a paraphyletic assemblage. This assemblage is composed of a monophyletic group that might properly be called Bathymodiolus and a distinctly parallel grouping that we refer to as the “Bathymodiolus” childressi clade. The “childressi” clade itself is diverse containing species from the western Pacific and Atlantic basins. Keywords: Bathymodiolus l Phylogeny l Childressi clade l Deep-sea l Mussel Introduction example, Gustafson et al. (1998) noted that “Bathymodiolus” childressi Gustafson et al. (their quotes), Many new species of mussels (Bivalvia: Mytilidae: a newly discovered species from the Gulf of Mexico, Bathymodiolinae) have been discovered during the past differed from other known Bathymodiolus for a number of two decades of deep ocean exploration. A number of genus morphological characters: multiple separation of posterior names are currently applied to members of this subfamily byssal retractors, single posterior byssal retractor scar, and (e.g., Adipicola, Bathymodiolus, Benthomodiolus, rectum that enters ventricle posterior to level of auricular Gigantidas, Idas, Myrina and Tamu), but diagnostic ostia. -
Discovery of Chemosynthesis-Based Association on the Cretaceous Basal Leatherback Sea Turtle from Japan
Editors' choice Discovery of chemosynthesis-based association on the Cretaceous basal leatherback sea turtle from Japan ROBERT G. JENKINS, ANDRZEJ KAIM, KEI SATO, KAZUHIRO MORIYA, YOSHINORI HIKIDA, and REN HIRAYAMA Jenkins, R.G., Kaim, A., Sato, K., Moriya, K., Hikida, Y., and Hirayama, R. 2017. Discovery of chemosynthesis-based association on the Cretaceous basal leatherback sea turtle from Japan. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 62 (4): 683–690. We report a Late Cretaceous chemosynthetic community fueled by decomposing basal leatherback sea turtle on the ocean floor in the western Pacific. The fossil association representing this community has been recovered from the matrix of a concretion containing a single carapace of Mesodermochelys sp. from Late Cretaceous outer shelf to upper slope deposit of northern Hokkaido, Japan. The carapace displays boreholes most likely performed by boring bivalves, and is associated with molluscan shells, mainly Provanna cf. nakagawensis and Thyasira tanabei. Since this association is similar to fauna already known from Late Cretaceous hydrocarbon seeps, sunken wood, and plesiosaur-falls in Hokkaido, it is suggested that all types of chemosynthesis-based communities in the Late Cretaceous of western Pacific may have belonged to the same regional pool of animals and were not yet fully differentiated into three independent types of com- munities as it is known today. This finding also indicates that the sulfophilic stage of the vertebrate-fall communities was supported not only by plesiosaur carcasses, which were previously reported, but also by sea turtle carcasses. It highlights the possibility of surviving vertebrate-fall communities through the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event on carcasses of sea turtles which are the only large marine vertebrates surviving this event. -
Dispersal and Differentiation of Deep-Sea Mussels of the Genus Bathymodiolus (Mytilidae, Bathymodiolinae)
Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Marine Biology Volume 2009, Article ID 625672, 15 pages doi:10.1155/2009/625672 Research Article Dispersal and Differentiation of Deep-Sea Mussels of the Genus Bathymodiolus (Mytilidae, Bathymodiolinae) Akiko Kyuno,1 Mifue Shintaku,1 Yuko Fujita,1 Hiroto Matsumoto,1 Motoo Utsumi,2 Hiromi Watanabe,3 Yoshihiro Fujiwara,3 and Jun-Ichi Miyazaki4 1 Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan 2 Institute of Agricultural and Forest Engineering, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan 3 Research Program for Marine Biology and Ecology, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Natsushima, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan 4 Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8510, Japan Correspondence should be addressed to Jun-Ichi Miyazaki, [email protected] Received 22 February 2009; Revised 27 May 2009; Accepted 30 July 2009 Recommended by Horst Felbeck We sequenced the mitochondrial ND4 gene to elucidate the evolutionary processes of Bathymodiolus mussels and mytilid relatives. Mussels of the subfamily Bathymodiolinae from vents and seeps belonged to 3 groups and mytilid relatives from sunken wood and whale carcasses assumed the outgroup positions to bathymodioline mussels. Shallow water mytilid mussels were positioned more distantly relative to the vent/seep mussels, indicating an evolutionary transition from shallow to deep sea via sunken wood and whale carcasses. Bathymodiolus platifrons is distributed in the seeps and vents, which are approximately 1500 km away. There was no significant genetic differentiation between the populations. There existed high gene flow between B. septemdierum and B. -
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Une nouvelle espèce de Bathymodiolinae (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae) associée à des os de baleine coulés en Méditerranée Jacques PELORCE 289 voie Les Magnolias, F-30240 Le Grau du Roi (France) [email protected] Jean-Maurice POUTIERS Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Systématique et Évolution, case postale 51, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) [email protected] Pelorce J. & Poutiers J.-M. 2009. — Une nouvelle espèce de Bathymodiolinae (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae) associée à des os de baleine coulés en Méditerranée. Zoosystema 31 (4) : 975-985. RÉSUMÉ Les espèces du genre Idas Jeff reys, 1876 (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae), associées à des substrats organiques coulés en profondeur en Méditerranée et dans l’Atlantique nord-est, sont passées en revue et une nouvelle espèce associée à de vieux os de baleine coulés « Idas » cylindricus n. sp., incluse provisoirement MOTS CLÉS dans le genre Idas s.l., est décrite du Golfe du Lion (Méditerranée occidentale). Mollusca, Bivalvia, Elle est comparée avec Idas (s.l.) simpsoni (Marshall, 1900) qui est l’espèce la Mytilidae, plus proche, et avec les autres espèces voisines de l’Atlantique nord-est et de Bathymodiolinae, Méditerranée. La nouvelle espèce se caractérise par sa taille importante pour le Idas, Méditerranée, genre, sa forme renfl ée et son profi l rectangulaire, son ligament interne épais et nouvelle espèce. marron et la position très avancée de l’umbo. ABSTRACT A new species of bathymodioline mussel (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae) associated with sunken whale bones in the Mediterranean Sea. Species of the genus Idas Jeff reys, 1876 (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Mytilidae), associated with sunken organic substrates in the Mediterranean Sea and the North-East Atlantic Ocean, are reviewed. -
1 Abundant Toxin-Related Genes in the Genomes of Beneficial Symbionts
1 Abundant toxin-related genes in the genomes of beneficial symbionts 2 from deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels 3 4 Lizbeth Sayavedra1, Manuel Kleiner1,*, Ruby Ponnudurai2,*, Silke Wetzel1, Eric 5 Pelletier3,4,5, Valerie Barbe3, Nori Satoh6, Eiichi Shoguchi6, Dennis Fink1, 6 Corinna Breusing7, Thorsten B.H. Reusch7, Philip Rosenstiel8, Markus B. 7 Schilhabel8, Dörte Becher9,10, Thomas Schweder2;9, Stephanie Markert2,9, 8 Nicole Dubilier1,11, Jillian M. Petersen1#& 9 1Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, 28359 10 Bremen, Germany 11 2Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Felix-Hausdorff-Strasse 12 3, 17487 Greifswald, Germany 13 3CEA - Genoscope, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, 91000 Evry, France 14 4CNRS UMR8030, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, 91000 Evry, France 15 5Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, 91000 Evry, 16 France 17 6Marine Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology 18 Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan 19 7GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Evolutionary Ecology, 20 Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany 21 8Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB), Schittenhelmstr. 12 22 24105 Kiel, Germany 1 23 9Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Walther-Rathenau-Strasse 49a, 17489 24 Greifswald, Germany 25 10Institute of Microbiology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Friedrich-Ludwig- 26 Jahn-Strasse 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany 27 11University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany 28 *Equal contribution 29 #Corresponding author – Jillian M. Petersen 30 Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology 31 Celsiusstrasse 1 32 28359 Bremen 33 Germany 34 Tel: +49 421 2028 823 35 Email: [email protected] 36 &Current address 37 Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science 38 Division of Microbial Ecology 39 Research Network Chemistry Meets Microbiology 40 University of Vienna 41 Althanstrasse 14 42 1090 Vienna 43 Austria 2 44 Abstract 45 Bathymodiolus mussels live in symbiosis with intracellular sulfur-oxidizing 46 (SOX) bacteria that provide them with nutrition. -
Ecology of Whale Falls at the Deep-Sea Floor
Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 2003, 41, 311–354 © R.N. Gibson and R.J.A. Atkinson, Editors Taylor & Francis ECOLOGY OF WHALE FALLS AT THE DEEP-SEA FLOOR CRAIG R. SMITH1 & AMY R. BACO1,2 1Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA e-mail: [email protected] 2present address: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA e-mail: [email protected] Abstract The falls of large whales (30–160t adult body weight) yield massive pulses of labile organic matter to the deep-sea floor. While scientists have long speculated on the ecological roles of such concentrated food inputs, observations have accumulated since the 1850s to suggest that deep-sea whale falls support a widespread, characteristic fauna. Interest in whale- fall ecology heightened with the discovery in 1989 of a chemoautotrophic assemblage on a whale skeleton in the northeast Pacific; related communities were soon reported from whale falls in other bathyal and abyssal Pacific and Atlantic sites, and from 30mya (million years ago) in the northeast Pacific fossil record. Recent time-series studies of natural and implanted deep- sea whale falls off California, USA indicate that bathyal carcasses pass through at least three successional stages: (1) a mobile-scavenger stage lasting months to years, during which aggregations of sleeper sharks, hagfish, rat-tails and invertebrate scavengers remove whale soft tissue at high rates (40–60kgdϪ1); (2) an enrichment opportunist stage (duration of months to years) during which organi- cally enriched sediments and exposed bones are colonised by dense assemblages (up to 40000mϪ2) of opportunistic polychaetes and crustaceans; (3) a sulphophilic (“or sulphur-loving”) stage lasting for decades, during which a large, species-rich, trophically complex assemblage lives on the skeleton as it emits sul- phide from anaerobic breakdown of bone lipids; this stage includes a chemoau- totrophic component deriving nutrition from sulphur-oxidising bacteria. -
Ecology of Whale Falls at the Deep-Sea Floor
Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 2003, 41, 311–354 © R.N. Gibson and R.J.A. Atkinson, Editors Taylor & Francis ECOLOGY OF WHALE FALLS AT THE DEEP-SEA FLOOR CRAIG R. SMITH1 & AMY R. BACO1,2 1Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA e-mail: [email protected] 2present address: Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA e-mail: [email protected] Abstract The falls of large whales (30–160t adult body weight) yield massive pulses of labile organic matter to the deep-sea floor. While scientists have long speculated on the ecological roles of such concentrated food inputs, observations have accumulated since the 1850s to suggest that deep-sea whale falls support a widespread, characteristic fauna. Interest in whale- fall ecology heightened with the discovery in 1989 of a chemoautotrophic assemblage on a whale skeleton in the northeast Pacific; related communities were soon reported from whale falls in other bathyal and abyssal Pacific and Atlantic sites, and from 30mya (million years ago) in the northeast Pacific fossil record. Recent time-series studies of natural and implanted deep- sea whale falls off California, USA indicate that bathyal carcasses pass through at least three successional stages: (1) a mobile-scavenger stage lasting months to years, during which aggregations of sleeper sharks, hagfish, rat-tails and invertebrate scavengers remove whale soft tissue at high rates (40–60kgdϪ1); (2) an enrichment opportunist stage (duration of months to years) during which organi- cally enriched sediments and exposed bones are colonised by dense assemblages (up to 40000mϪ2) of opportunistic polychaetes and crustaceans; (3) a sulphophilic (“or sulphur-loving”) stage lasting for decades, during which a large, species-rich, trophically complex assemblage lives on the skeleton as it emits sul- phide from anaerobic breakdown of bone lipids; this stage includes a chemoau- totrophic component deriving nutrition from sulphur-oxidising bacteria. -
The Gene-Rich Genome of the Scallop Pecten Maximus Nathan J
GigaScience, 9, 2020, 1–13 doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giaa037 Data Note DATA NOTE The gene-rich genome of the scallop Pecten maximus Nathan J. Kenny1,2, Shane A. McCarthy3, Olga Dudchenko4,5, Katherine James1,6, Emma Betteridge7,CraigCorton7, Jale Dolucan7,8, Dan Mead7, Karen Oliver7, Arina D. Omer4, Sarah Pelan7, Yan Ryan9,10, Ying Sims7, Jason Skelton7, Michelle Smith7, James Torrance7, David Weisz4, Anil Wipat9, Erez L Aiden4,5,11,12, Kerstin Howe7 and Suzanne T. Williams 1,* 1Natural History Museum, Department of Life Sciences, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; 2Present address: Oxford Brookes University, Headington Road, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK; 3University of Cambridge, Department of Genetics, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK; 4The Center for Genome Architecture, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; 5The Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005-1827, USA; 6Present address: Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK; 7Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK; 8Present address: Freeline Therapeutics Limited, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2FX, UK; 9School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK; 10Institute of Infection and Global Health, Liverpool University, iC2, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK; 11Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai, China and 12School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. ∗Correspondence address. Suzanne T. Williams, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. E-mail: [email protected] http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2995-5823 Abstract Background: The king scallop, Pecten maximus, is distributed in shallow waters along the Atlantic coast of Europe. -
A Mussel Colonizing Deep-Sea Whale Bones in the Northwest Pacific (Bivalvia: Mytilidae)
VENUS 66 (1-2): 49-55, 2007 Benthomodiolus geikotsucola n. sp.: A Mussel Colonizing Deep-sea Whale Bones in the Northwest Pacific (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) 1Takashi Okutani and 2Jun-Ichi Miyazaki 1Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan; [email protected] 2Faculty of Education & Human Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8510, Japan Abstract: A new mytilid mussel found colonizing a whale skeleton at a depth of 4020 m on the Torishima Seamount in the Northwest Pacific is described. It is the third named species in the genus Benthomodiolus Dell, 1987. Only minor superficial characters separate it from the two other known species; these are a lack of both periostracal hairs and radial lines and the fact that this new taxon is the only species in the genus living attached to whale bones. In addition, however, the morphology of the byssal muscles in this species is different from the other two. Keywords: new species, whale bone, Mytilidae, deep sea Introduction The skeleton of a whale of the species Balaenoptera edeni was discovered on the summit of the Torishima Seamount at a depth of 4036 m in 1992 during the Shinkai 6500 Dive 148 (Wada, 1993; Fujioka et al., 1993). Since then this site has been revisited from time to time, such as in 1993 (Dive 174: Naganuma et al., 1996), in 1997 (Dive 369), and again in 2005 (Dive 895: this paper). Colonies of a mytilid mussel observed on every part of the whale skeleton were sampled on each occasion, but they have been left unstudied up to this date. -
Whale-Fall Ecosystems: Recent Insights Into Ecology, Paleoecology, and Evolution
MA07CH24-Smith ARI 28 October 2014 12:32 Whale-Fall Ecosystems: Recent Insights into Ecology, Paleoecology, and Evolution Craig R. Smith,1 Adrian G. Glover,2 Tina Treude,3 Nicholas D. Higgs,4 and Diva J. Amon1 1Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; email: [email protected], [email protected] 2Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, SW7 5BD London, United Kingdom; email: [email protected] 3GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, 24148 Kiel, Germany; email: [email protected] 4Marine Institute, Plymouth University, PL4 8AA Plymouth, United Kingdom; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2015. 7:571–96 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on ecological succession, chemosynthesis, speciation, vent/seep faunas, September 10, 2014 Osedax, sulfate reduction The Annual Review of Marine Science is online at marine.annualreviews.org Abstract This article’s doi: Whale falls produce remarkable organic- and sulfide-rich habitat islands at 10.1146/annurev-marine-010213-135144 Access provided by 168.105.82.76 on 01/12/15. For personal use only. the seafloor. The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in studies of mod- Copyright c 2015 by Annual Reviews. ern and fossil whale remains, yielding exciting new insights into whale-fall All rights reserved Annu. Rev. Marine. Sci. 2015.7:571-596. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org ecosystems. Giant body sizes and especially high bone-lipid content allow great-whale carcasses to support a sequence of heterotrophic and chemosyn- thetic microbial assemblages in the energy-poor deep sea.