{"id":520409,"date":"2026-06-10T17:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T15:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/?post_type=news&p=520409"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:42:29","slug":"a-vast-whale-graveyard-discovered-in-the-depths-of-the-indian-ocean","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/a-vast-whale-graveyard-discovered-in-the-depths-of-the-indian-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"A vast whale graveyard discovered in the depths of the Indian Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ocean trenches, reaching depths of nearly 11,000 metres, are among the least explored and most enigmatic environments on Earth. A study published in Nature<\/a> <\/strong>reports the results of a series of dives carried out by the Chinese submersible Fendouzhe<\/em> on the floor of the Diamantina Trench in the southeastern Indian Ocean, at depths ranging from 4,600 to 7,000 metres. The expeditions revealed an unexpectedly high abundance and diversity of both fossil and modern cetacean skeletons scattered across more than 1,200 kilometres of seafloor<\/strong>. Many of the whale carcasses are still decomposing and support unique biological communities, many of whose species remain unknown to science. These specialised organisms are capable of exploiting virtually all the organic matter delivered to the deep seafloor by a sinking whale carcass, including nutrients retained within the bones.<\/p>\n

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Ricercatori cinesi e italiani (da sinistra a destra: Mengran Du, Xiaotong Peng, Giovanni Bianucci, Alberto Collareta e Xikun Song) posano con crani fossili di cetacei recuperati dal cimitero di balene recentemente scoperto sul fondale della Fossa Diamantina nell’Oceano Indiano sudorientale. La fotografia \u00e8 stata scattata presso l\u2019Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, dell’Accademia Cinese delle Scienze, Sanya, Cina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The study of the skeletal remains was carried out by palaeontologists Giovanni Bianucci<\/strong> and Alberto Collareta<\/strong> of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Pisa.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the skeletal remains,\u201d explains Bianucci<\/strong>, \u201cbelong to beaked whales, deep-diving cetaceans that forage at great depths. The remains are represented mainly by rostra\u2014the elongated anterior portion of the skull\u2014which are particularly resistant to degradation over time. Many specimens are also covered by thick ferromanganese crusts that have enhanced their preservation. Numerous rostra belong to two living species, Andrews\u2019s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bowdoini<\/em>) and the strap-toothed whale (Mesoplodon layardii<\/em>), but fossil species are also present, including Pterocetus diamantinae<\/em>, a newly described species named after the trench itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Il Mesoplodonte di Bowdoin (Mesoplodon bowdoini) e il Mesoplodonte di Layardi (Mesoplodon layardii), entrambe specie ancora viventi, sono tra i cetacei identificati a partire da resti fossili e subfossili provenienti dalla Fossa Diamantina. Questi elusivi zifidi si immergono per nutrirsi fino a profondit\u00e0 estreme. Crediti: Ricostruzioni dei due mesoplodonti, Wikimedia Commons (CC); fotografie dei crani di esemplari attuali delle due specie di mesoplodonte utilizzati come sfondo, Te Papa Collections Online (CC BY 4.0); fotografia dei crani fossili dei due mesoplodonti e composizione della figura, G. Bianucci<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cStrontium-isotope dating,\u201d adds Collareta<\/strong>, \u201cindicates that the remains of extant species are the youngest, ranging from 1.2 million years ago to the present, whereas the fossil species date from between 2.4 and 5.3 million years ago. These results not only support our taxonomic identifications but also demonstrate that we are dealing with an extraordinary fossil accumulation that has been forming for more than five million years and continues to grow through the ongoing deposition of whale carcasses on the deep seafloor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Resti scheletrici frammentari di cetacei sono abbondanti sul profondo fondale marino della Fossa Diamantina, a testimonianza di una lunga esposizione e di una lenta degradazione delle carcasse. Queste ossa sono tipicamente colonizzate da animali che vivono su substrati duri, tra cui anemoni di mare peduncolati, spugne e stelle marine. Fotografie scattate dal batiscafo cinese Fendouzhe. Crediti: Global TREnD, IDSSE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThese findings,\u201d Bianucci concludes, \u201cfundamentally reshape our understanding of deep-sea ecosystems associated with whale falls and highlight the enormous potential of ocean trenches as fossil archives for reconstructing the evolutionary history of cetaceans through geological time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Recupero di ossa fossili di cetacei utilizzando il braccio meccanico del batiscafo cinese Fendouzhe sul fondale profondo della Fossa Diamantina. Crediti: Global TREnD, IDSSE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research was carried out within the framework of the Global Deep-Sea Trench Exploration Program<\/strong> (GHEP), an international initiative aimed at advancing knowledge of the geology, biology and environmental conditions of the world\u2019s deepest oceans (6,000\u201311,000 metres). The programme combines interdisciplinary expeditions with cutting-edge technologies, including crewed submersibles and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It is led by the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences<\/strong>. The GHEP steering committee includes 11 researchers from 11 countries, among them Giovanni Bianucci of the University of Pisa, who represents Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Nature study, involving researchers from the University of Pisa, reveals the deepest and larges accumulation of whale remains spanning more than five million years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":520401,"menu_order":4,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"tag-notizie-persone":[],"tags_news":[4332,2305],"categorie":[159],"class_list":["post-520409","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tags_news-department-of-earth-science","tags_news-research-en","categorie-unipinews-en"],"yoast_head":"\nA vast whale graveyard discovered in the depths of the Indian Ocean ~ UNIPI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/a-vast-whale-graveyard-discovered-in-the-depths-of-the-indian-ocean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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