Do whales float or sink when they die?

Question

Do whales float or sink when they die?

Answer 1

they get stolen by the japenese

Answer 2

they float; ive seen a discovery channel show on sharks that were eating this huge dead whale in the middle of the ocean and the camera man actually sat on the whale to tape them haha.

Answer 3

Some sink, some float.  Most sink at first and then float as the gasses of decomposition begin to collect in the carcass.  Right whales (Eubalena) got their name because they were the right whale to go after because they would stay afloat when they died.

Answer 4

both

sunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=letqkpG3b...

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2004/08/02...

http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releas...

floating in the sea (sorry for the bad quality)

http://www.filecabi.net/video/27greatsha...

http://www.vimeo.com/223590

washed on shore

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_psVpS4JEA0&f...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2W7GNjkV...

(Whale explosion) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvha8N3a2...

Answer 5

I believe many float for a while but they all eventually sink.

What I can say for sure:

Dead whales occasionally get beached; these obviously float.

Dead whale carcasses support whole ecosystems at the bottom of the ocean.  It was relatively recently (a few years ago) that they found tons of new species, and I think even a new phylum, all localized on a dead whale carcass.

Answer 6

Sink,

There bodies decompose underwater and get eaten by other bottom feeders.

Answer 7

dead whales are rarely found in the wild, but they sink when they die because eventually all the remaining air that keeps their dead bodies buoyant would be expelled from the carcass and the whale would sink, and its body would be decomposed and eaten by millions of microrganisms as well as large organisms.