FRIDAY HARBOR -- Everett the whale's cranium was carefully hoisted from the ocean floor after spending 18 months rotting and feeding the fishes.

Scientists thought the whale's skeleton would remain hard for decades. Instead, the 500-pound skull that rose from the briny depths was spongy, tunneled through with worm holes and in generally terrible shape.

The heavy decomposition wasn't quite what marine biologist David Duggins expected to find in such a relatively recent whale carcass. After filming the whale's natural decomposition, the team expected to be able to donate a nice new, fin whale skull to the Burke Museum in Seattle.

"The speed at which things are happening is a surprise," said Duggins, with Friday Harbor Labs, a University of Washington-affiliated marine research center.

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