Whale Fall Cafe

"e;2021 Blue Ribbons List"e; - Bulletin for the Center for Children's BooksOne medium-size whale carcass delivers as much food to the dark, cold ocean depths as 4,000 years of sinking food particles. When a dead whale arrives, the caf opens for business, and who better than Dan Tavis to show us the bizarre deep-ocean diners who show up?When a whale carcass lands on the deep ocean floor, a caf opens for business, and the diners don't stop rooting their way through the menu until the cupboards are bare.Hagfish, zombie worms, sleeper sharksthis group of patrons is stranger than the denizens of the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars. A fish in a lab coat, piloting a deep-sea submersible, is our guide to the weirdly fascinating goings-on miles beneath the ocean surface. The backmatter includes rare whale-fall photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Robert Vrijenhoek of MBARI and Dr. Craig Smith, a deep-ocean ecologist at the University of Hawaii, have helped Jacquie Sewell to ensure scientific accuracy.