Black smokers, cold seeps, whale falls

The current Science News has a lovely article about whale falls--the carcasses of whales sitting on the sea floor. To the living creatures of the deep sea, a whale fall is a mountain of food, and it turns out that whale falls are as significant a biological community as black smokers and cold seeps, even sharing many of the same species of organisms. Learn more about all three communities. And see the full-size photo of the fossil cold seep shown at right.