An international team of researchers has discovered a massive whale “graveyard” at a depth of around 23,000 feet in the Indian Ocean, stretching approximately 745 miles.
The remarkable discovery was made in the Diamantina Fracture Zone in the southeastern Indian Ocean, where whale remains were found alongside several marine species that have never been seen elsewhere.
Researchers also found jellyfish, tube worms, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, squat lobsters, and saltwater clams, some of which may represent completely new species for science.
According to scientists, some of the whale remains at the site could be as old as 5.3 million years, making it one of the oldest known underwater graveyards in the world.
Located nearly four miles beneath the ocean surface, this underwater “city of silence” is not only filled with ancient whale remains but also serves as a habitat for organisms that may not yet have been formally identified by science.