Welcome to the Whale Fall Buffet!

by Clara S., Athena’s student

Students in the Fall 2024 session of Contributing to Scientific Understanding are sharing their scientific contributions! Here’s what Clara has to say…

With the support of the amazing Professor Emma and my classmates in Contributing to
Scientific Understanding, I (along with some help from my siblings) have created a silly and
educational song parody featuring everybody’s favorite deep sea ecosystem: the whale fall!

After we wrote and created our kelp-based Beatles parody (Kelp!) for Prof. Emma’s Underwater
Forests: Kelp Ecosystems class in 2022, I decided it was high-time to write another marine
biology-themed parody, this time with the goal of educating people about the deep sea via the
song “Y.M.C.A.”. After several months of lyrical work, audio recording, and video editing, the
final product, entitled The Whale Fall Buffet, is finally out on youtube! It features royalty-free
photography (and videos!) from renowned marine biology organizations, as well as a handful of
photos used with permission by photographers. By watching the video, one can learn about the
slimy hagfish, charismatic sea pig, and remarkable boneworm, through the successional
decomposition of a whale carcass and a healthy dose of disco music. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂