A blue whale carcass, known as a whale fall, can sustain a highly diverse deep-sea ecosystem for up to 100 years. This process typically occurs in four successive ecological stages: Mobile Scavenger Stage: Large animals like sleeper sharks, hagfish, and crabs strip the whale's soft tissue over a period of months to approximately two years. Enrichment-Opportunist Stage: Smaller invertebrates, such as polychaete worms and crustaceans, colonize the nutrient-rich sediment and remaining small scraps