In 1919, for example, a humpback whale with a pair of leglike appendages over a metre long, complete with a full set of limb bones, was caught off Vancouver Island in Canada.

Osedax were first discovered alive in 2002 in Monterey Bay, California, where they were living on the bones of a decaying gray whale.

The skin is used for making belts and various household devices, the meat is used for food for people and dogs, even whale bones are perfectly useful for the traditional sledges.