ABSTRACT
Bennett et al. (1994) cite five sources of organic matter potentially of major significance in whale-fall habitats:
(1) whale organic material (e.g. soft tissues and lipids within the bones); (2) free-living hetero-and chemoautotrophic bacteria; (3) endosymbiotic, sulphur-oxidising chemoautotrophic bacteria; (4) tissue of primary consumers; and (5) detrital particles suspended in currents or deposited in sediments around the
bones.
