Whale carcass decomposition tracked for 15 years reveals extended sulfophilic phase

A mile beneath the Pacific, a single whale skeleton has been quietly sustaining an entire community of specialized life for more than two decades — longer than science had previously understood. Researchers tracking the same carcass from 2012 to 2023 found that the sulfur-consuming bacterial phase of decomposition persists far beyond earlier estimates, offering deep-sea creatures like tubeworms and clams an extended window to colonize and reproduce. This discovery, born from patient observation of one whale's slow dissolution, now casts a shadow forward: as warming oceans expand oxygen-deplete