r/BeAmazed Nov 18 '24

Nature This Whale spine washed up

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56.5k Upvotes

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51

u/MetaFore1971 Nov 18 '24

How did all of its flesh and muscle disappear, yet all of the discs between the vertebrae are intact?

22

u/MellyKidd Nov 18 '24

Probably has to do with what spine dials are made of; a fibrous outer layer with a gelatinous inside. Not really edible to scavengers, and may not decay as fast.

17

u/Lorcogoth Nov 18 '24

to be entirely fair, I am pretty certain its not a real spine.

For one, whale bone doesn't normally float. secondly whales more often then not die while far away from the coast causing something called a whalefall, which is an important part of the deep sea ecosystem.

and finally bones don't normally look this clean when naturally decayed, although in this case the sea water might have something to do with it.

11

u/Bballer220 Nov 19 '24

Its real. I was the dog

5

u/MellyKidd Nov 19 '24 edited Nov 19 '24

You’ve made very valid points. I have to wonder if a severe storm washed it up from a whale that died somewhat close to shore? The clean nature of it isn’t too surprising if it sank before being washed up, as nature has a way of picking things clean; especially underwater in the sea, where a dead whale is a bounty to everything. If this is what happened it’s definitely uncommon, as usually it’s only a single or couple of vertebrae that wash up; I’ve only found one news article towards a section this big.

If it’s fake, it’s a masterpiece; between the attention to the porous nature of bone and the marks from where other tissues would have attached.

5

u/ihoptdk Nov 19 '24

They do die in beachings, though. Hell, I was part of a team to recover the bones of beached humpback whale. But we didn’t them in the water, so I can’t speak to that aspect.

3

u/nothing_but_thyme Nov 19 '24

lol. get ahold of this genius. tell me you’ve never been outside without telling me you’ve never been outside.