Death is often associated with grief and desperation, as life fades from the world, never to return. However, these are not the only meaning of death, as death sometimes could be magnificent and splendid, just like the whale fall that happens in the deep sea.

Recently, scientists on a Chinese research vessel called Tansuo-1 discovered a whale fall in the South China Sea. This is the first time China has discovered the whale fall. Whale fall is the carcass of a whale falling onto the sea floor with a depth greater than 1,000 meters. As a concentrated food source and energy bank for organisms in deep sea, whale fall can sustain the community that is developed around it for months to decades.

In different stages of decomposition during the whale fall, the tissues become food for animals and microorganisms. The bones will excrete hydrogen sulfide, which is a very important element providing energy to microbes.

Whale fall has a beautiful metaphor – the "oasis" of life in deep sea. Though its body decays eventually, the contribution it makes will last in nature.

As for humans, for those martyrs who fought and died for the entire mankind in the war against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), their splendid figures will always be remembered by everyone as if they never left.

(All images via VCG)

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