# What benefits do mosquitos and whales have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197 "2009-10-18T02:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/1 "2009-10-18T02:52:52Z")
I was trying to think of unusual animals and how they contribute to the food chain, and I really couldn’t think of anything useful from mosquitoes and whales. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/2 "2009-10-18T02:58:44Z")
Mosquitoes (adult and larvae) are an important source of food for dragonflies. Bats eat a lot of them too, but they’re not a major component of a bat’s diet. Catfish, goldfish, bass, guppies, and I’m sure a number of other fish also feed on their larvae. Whales? Haven’t thought about them. When it comes to it, of what use are we in the grand scheme of things? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/3 "2009-10-18T03:50:01Z")
I recall a documentary in which a deep-sea submersible observed a great many hagfish feasting on a whale carcass that had sunk to the dark depths. This was an important food source for them (the hagfish and other benthic critters). ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/4 "2009-10-18T04:08:58Z")
They feed other animals when they die (those hagfish eat for months), they eat tons of fish/plankton/krill, their calves are sometimes attacked and eaten by other creatures (Orcas are all I am aware of but maybe some sharks too?), they host a lot of parasites, some whales are eaten by polar bears. I’m not sure how important those things are. If you took whales out, maybe nothing would go extinct or overpopulate. The problem with trying to figure out how they contribute is that they’re at the top of the food chain. They let other creatures do the contributing. How do lions contribute to the food chain? ---
**Author:** ![Myself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@Myself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myself)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/5 "2009-10-18T04:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > If you took whales out, maybe nothing would go extinct or overpopulate. The problem with trying to figure out how they contribute is that they’re at the top of the food chain. They let other creatures do the contributing. What if you change the word ‘whale’ and replaced it with ‘human beans’? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/6 "2009-10-18T04:17:31Z")
Mosquitoes have great benefit: Without them, there wouldn’t be any more mosquito eggs or larvae. Mosquitoes serve the grand purpose of making more mosquitoes. Why, did you expect them to be in the service of some other organism? Why would one expect that? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/7 "2009-10-18T04:20:19Z")
Plus don’t forget whale-bone corsets! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/8 "2009-10-18T04:26:04Z")
Whales feed the Japanese. Dead Japanese feed bacteria. Bacteria feed plants. Plants may one day become petroleum. Live Japanese, meanwhile, create robots. Already the robots are consuming fuel, and one day they will indirectly eat dead Japanese and grow even more powerful. Once advanced enough, they may team up with the remaining whales and hunt down live Japanese. And so the circle of life goes on and on and on… Life doesn’t need a predesignated purpose (or an obvious one, for that matter)… if something successfully evolves to fill a certain niche, well, it has every right to occupy that niche until something better comes along. “Usefulness” is not a criterion for continued survival. IOW, it’s not so much “What good are whales?” or “Why do whales exist?” but rather “Are there sufficient forces that would cause whales to disappear from the food web once they’re there?” If not (or not yet), they’re gonna remain there. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/9 "2009-10-18T04:54:57Z")
Did you know you’ve got four miles of tubing in your [stomach](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxXkjD6VmE)? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/10 "2009-10-18T10:22:14Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > I recall a documentary in which a deep-sea submersible observed a great many hagfish feasting on a whale carcass that had sunk to the dark depths. This was an important food source for them (the hagfish and other benthic critters). And the hagfish in turn sustain us by giving us nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![76Shepherd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/7/7bcc69/32.png) [@76Shepherd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/76Shepherd)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/11 "2009-10-18T10:57:58Z")
I don’t know how they might fit into the food chain, but… Do you have any idea what the world population would be today without the lowly mosquito? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/12 "2009-10-18T12:44:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Mosquitoes have great benefit: Without them, there wouldn’t be any more mosquito eggs or larvae. Mosquitoes serve the grand purpose of making more mosquitoes. > > Why, did you expect them to be in the service of some other organism? Why would one expect that? Maybe a more appropriate question is to ask what other organisms take advantage of the existence of mosquitoes? I’d put bats and dragonflies on that list, not sure what else. Must be some fish and other aquatic life that feast on the larvae. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/13 "2009-10-18T13:10:08Z")
Mosquitos and whales, being non-union, tend to may minimal benefit if any. Organized creatures, such as termites and coral, have excellent benefit packages. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/14 "2009-10-18T13:28:33Z")
If whales died out, would the oceans be overrun by krill? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/15 "2009-10-18T13:52:54Z")
They’re just waiting for their chance. And when overpopulation becomes too severe, they’ll evolve to breathe air. Probably grow bigger, too. We must save the whales, else await our doom under the Krill overlords. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/16 "2009-10-18T13:58:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > When it comes to it, of what use are we in the grand scheme of things? Plastic. How else is the Earth going to generate plastic? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/17 "2009-10-18T17:14:59Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Whales feed the Japanese. Dead Japanese feed bacteria. Bacteria feed plants. Plants may one day become petroleum. Live Japanese, meanwhile, create robots. Already the robots are consuming fuel, and one day they will indirectly eat dead Japanese and grow even more powerful. Once advanced enough, they may team up with the remaining whales and hunt down live Japanese. And so the circle of life goes on and on and on… > . you win the thread! (And thank you for a good laugh after a miserable day) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/18 "2009-10-18T19:41:12Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > They feed other animals when they die (those hagfish eat for months), they eat tons of fish/plankton/krill, their calves are sometimes attacked and eaten by other creatures (Orcas are all I am aware of but maybe some sharks too?), they host a lot of parasites, \*\*some whales are eaten by polar bears. \*\* Really? Polar bears? How big a whale are we talking here, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/19 "2009-10-18T19:48:09Z")
Whales give us the lovely metaphor: he’s lower than whale shit. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197/20 "2009-10-18T20:26:27Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Really? Polar bears? How big a whale are we talking here, exactly? [Here’s a video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-RKRNSG_c) of a polar bear hunting beluga whales. [Here’s a video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi8K9z3JfB8) of polar bears feeding on a whale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-mosquitos-and-whales-have/514197.md?page=2)