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How long could a Kraken's carcass survive if preserved in salt?
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I have a bay of water containing several Krakens. One day, due to the efforts of a magical organization, all of the water disappears. The Kraken fall and die on the bed of salt that is left behind. Each are about 50 meters in length.
Assuming the Kraken are preserved by the salt, how long could their carcasses survive intact, before they rot away and only the bones are left? My plot calls for them to survive a bit more than two millennia, but I'm not sure if this is realistic.
reality-check sea-creatures preservation
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
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up vote
6
down vote
favorite
I have a bay of water containing several Krakens. One day, due to the efforts of a magical organization, all of the water disappears. The Kraken fall and die on the bed of salt that is left behind. Each are about 50 meters in length.
Assuming the Kraken are preserved by the salt, how long could their carcasses survive intact, before they rot away and only the bones are left? My plot calls for them to survive a bit more than two millennia, but I'm not sure if this is realistic.
reality-check sea-creatures preservation
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
10
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
3
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
3
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
8
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
6
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago
 |Â
show 2 more comments
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
I have a bay of water containing several Krakens. One day, due to the efforts of a magical organization, all of the water disappears. The Kraken fall and die on the bed of salt that is left behind. Each are about 50 meters in length.
Assuming the Kraken are preserved by the salt, how long could their carcasses survive intact, before they rot away and only the bones are left? My plot calls for them to survive a bit more than two millennia, but I'm not sure if this is realistic.
reality-check sea-creatures preservation
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I have a bay of water containing several Krakens. One day, due to the efforts of a magical organization, all of the water disappears. The Kraken fall and die on the bed of salt that is left behind. Each are about 50 meters in length.
Assuming the Kraken are preserved by the salt, how long could their carcasses survive intact, before they rot away and only the bones are left? My plot calls for them to survive a bit more than two millennia, but I'm not sure if this is realistic.
reality-check sea-creatures preservation
reality-check sea-creatures preservation
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
edited 18 mins ago
Community♦
1
1
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
asked 12 hours ago
jhcdrok
363
363
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
jhcdrok is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
10
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
3
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
3
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
8
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
6
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago
 |Â
show 2 more comments
10
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
3
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
3
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
8
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
6
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago
10
10
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
3
3
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
3
3
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
8
8
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
6
6
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago
 |Â
show 2 more comments
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
20
down vote
accepted
I'm going to assume that when you say "Kraken" you mean "giant octopus monster" meaning something biochemically identical to a modern octopus but huge. I'm also assuming that the water stays gone and the environment is perpetually dry. Given those assumptions the real world example of seal carcasses in Antarctica's Dry Valleys should be educational. Those bodies are preserved by the dryness of the environment more than the chemical action of the salt in the air but both play a part, they remain relatively intact (as in you can still tell it's a seal) for at least as much as 2600 years, so your two millennia shouldn't be an implausible time period.
Note that the only "bone" in a traditional Kraken would be the beak, possibly sucker hooks as well if they take more after giant squid.
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
Preserving organic materials or organisms in salt requires more than just laying on top of a salty layer.
It requires complete coverage with salt and frequent renewal of the salt, to remove the salt saturated with the water extracted from the organism.
Considering that your Kraken, whatever it is made of, is 50 meters long, I think only a very minor part of its body would be in contact with salt.
Decomposition of the body would then be unavoidable.
If you want to preserve the bodies in salt, they should have parts with low water content (if you dehydrate a jellyfish you will end up with nothing). A Kraken, being often depicted as a sort of cephalopod, has practically no hard parts.
If you handwave this and somehow manage to properly prepare the body in salt (and I assume a magical organization capable of emptying a bay can also manage to stir some Krakens in salt) by completely covering it in salt, your best bet is to cover the whole volume with non permeable materials, like clay. If layers of clay preserved rock salt in the bottom of the sea, they can presumably protect your salted Krakens for a couple of millenia.
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
If "all of the water disappears" includes the water in the krakens and you could keep the bay dry, then you would likely end up with some shriveled kraken mummies that could easily last a couple thousand years.
Mummification works best on desiccated corpses that are left in dry areas, which describes the krakens and your former bay perfectly. As you expected, salt would help preserve them by leeching extra moisture out from the carcasses. However, the key is keeping the bay dry: unless the wizards also dam up the entrance to the bay and ensure that it doesn't fill with rain water or humid air, then no amount of salt would help them and they would quickly rot.
As a side note, if you wanted some natural kraken salt statues then the magical organization can regularly let water seep into the bay/krakens before removing it again. This cycle of seeping/evaporation will fill the kraken's cells with salt in a process called permineralization, the end result being petrified kraken corpses made entirely of salt with little to no organic material remaining.
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
20
down vote
accepted
I'm going to assume that when you say "Kraken" you mean "giant octopus monster" meaning something biochemically identical to a modern octopus but huge. I'm also assuming that the water stays gone and the environment is perpetually dry. Given those assumptions the real world example of seal carcasses in Antarctica's Dry Valleys should be educational. Those bodies are preserved by the dryness of the environment more than the chemical action of the salt in the air but both play a part, they remain relatively intact (as in you can still tell it's a seal) for at least as much as 2600 years, so your two millennia shouldn't be an implausible time period.
Note that the only "bone" in a traditional Kraken would be the beak, possibly sucker hooks as well if they take more after giant squid.
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
add a comment |Â
up vote
20
down vote
accepted
I'm going to assume that when you say "Kraken" you mean "giant octopus monster" meaning something biochemically identical to a modern octopus but huge. I'm also assuming that the water stays gone and the environment is perpetually dry. Given those assumptions the real world example of seal carcasses in Antarctica's Dry Valleys should be educational. Those bodies are preserved by the dryness of the environment more than the chemical action of the salt in the air but both play a part, they remain relatively intact (as in you can still tell it's a seal) for at least as much as 2600 years, so your two millennia shouldn't be an implausible time period.
Note that the only "bone" in a traditional Kraken would be the beak, possibly sucker hooks as well if they take more after giant squid.
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
add a comment |Â
up vote
20
down vote
accepted
up vote
20
down vote
accepted
I'm going to assume that when you say "Kraken" you mean "giant octopus monster" meaning something biochemically identical to a modern octopus but huge. I'm also assuming that the water stays gone and the environment is perpetually dry. Given those assumptions the real world example of seal carcasses in Antarctica's Dry Valleys should be educational. Those bodies are preserved by the dryness of the environment more than the chemical action of the salt in the air but both play a part, they remain relatively intact (as in you can still tell it's a seal) for at least as much as 2600 years, so your two millennia shouldn't be an implausible time period.
Note that the only "bone" in a traditional Kraken would be the beak, possibly sucker hooks as well if they take more after giant squid.
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
I'm going to assume that when you say "Kraken" you mean "giant octopus monster" meaning something biochemically identical to a modern octopus but huge. I'm also assuming that the water stays gone and the environment is perpetually dry. Given those assumptions the real world example of seal carcasses in Antarctica's Dry Valleys should be educational. Those bodies are preserved by the dryness of the environment more than the chemical action of the salt in the air but both play a part, they remain relatively intact (as in you can still tell it's a seal) for at least as much as 2600 years, so your two millennia shouldn't be an implausible time period.
Note that the only "bone" in a traditional Kraken would be the beak, possibly sucker hooks as well if they take more after giant squid.
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
edited 11 hours ago
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
answered 12 hours ago
Ash
22.4k461134
22.4k461134
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
Preserving organic materials or organisms in salt requires more than just laying on top of a salty layer.
It requires complete coverage with salt and frequent renewal of the salt, to remove the salt saturated with the water extracted from the organism.
Considering that your Kraken, whatever it is made of, is 50 meters long, I think only a very minor part of its body would be in contact with salt.
Decomposition of the body would then be unavoidable.
If you want to preserve the bodies in salt, they should have parts with low water content (if you dehydrate a jellyfish you will end up with nothing). A Kraken, being often depicted as a sort of cephalopod, has practically no hard parts.
If you handwave this and somehow manage to properly prepare the body in salt (and I assume a magical organization capable of emptying a bay can also manage to stir some Krakens in salt) by completely covering it in salt, your best bet is to cover the whole volume with non permeable materials, like clay. If layers of clay preserved rock salt in the bottom of the sea, they can presumably protect your salted Krakens for a couple of millenia.
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
Preserving organic materials or organisms in salt requires more than just laying on top of a salty layer.
It requires complete coverage with salt and frequent renewal of the salt, to remove the salt saturated with the water extracted from the organism.
Considering that your Kraken, whatever it is made of, is 50 meters long, I think only a very minor part of its body would be in contact with salt.
Decomposition of the body would then be unavoidable.
If you want to preserve the bodies in salt, they should have parts with low water content (if you dehydrate a jellyfish you will end up with nothing). A Kraken, being often depicted as a sort of cephalopod, has practically no hard parts.
If you handwave this and somehow manage to properly prepare the body in salt (and I assume a magical organization capable of emptying a bay can also manage to stir some Krakens in salt) by completely covering it in salt, your best bet is to cover the whole volume with non permeable materials, like clay. If layers of clay preserved rock salt in the bottom of the sea, they can presumably protect your salted Krakens for a couple of millenia.
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
10
down vote
up vote
10
down vote
Preserving organic materials or organisms in salt requires more than just laying on top of a salty layer.
It requires complete coverage with salt and frequent renewal of the salt, to remove the salt saturated with the water extracted from the organism.
Considering that your Kraken, whatever it is made of, is 50 meters long, I think only a very minor part of its body would be in contact with salt.
Decomposition of the body would then be unavoidable.
If you want to preserve the bodies in salt, they should have parts with low water content (if you dehydrate a jellyfish you will end up with nothing). A Kraken, being often depicted as a sort of cephalopod, has practically no hard parts.
If you handwave this and somehow manage to properly prepare the body in salt (and I assume a magical organization capable of emptying a bay can also manage to stir some Krakens in salt) by completely covering it in salt, your best bet is to cover the whole volume with non permeable materials, like clay. If layers of clay preserved rock salt in the bottom of the sea, they can presumably protect your salted Krakens for a couple of millenia.
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
Preserving organic materials or organisms in salt requires more than just laying on top of a salty layer.
It requires complete coverage with salt and frequent renewal of the salt, to remove the salt saturated with the water extracted from the organism.
Considering that your Kraken, whatever it is made of, is 50 meters long, I think only a very minor part of its body would be in contact with salt.
Decomposition of the body would then be unavoidable.
If you want to preserve the bodies in salt, they should have parts with low water content (if you dehydrate a jellyfish you will end up with nothing). A Kraken, being often depicted as a sort of cephalopod, has practically no hard parts.
If you handwave this and somehow manage to properly prepare the body in salt (and I assume a magical organization capable of emptying a bay can also manage to stir some Krakens in salt) by completely covering it in salt, your best bet is to cover the whole volume with non permeable materials, like clay. If layers of clay preserved rock salt in the bottom of the sea, they can presumably protect your salted Krakens for a couple of millenia.
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
answered 11 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
65.3k20155308
65.3k20155308
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
add a comment |Â
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
I'm not sure of the chemistry, could the rising salinity as the sea dries suck out enough water to make further preservation without tissue lose practicable?
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
@Ash, I don't get your question
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
As the sea dries out can the increasing salt concentration suck enough water from the Krakens to leave them dry enough that simply being on the salt pan will finish the job.
– Ash
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
@Ash, the salt would extract water by osmotic pressure via the cellular membrane of the part in contact with it. The parts not in direct contact would likely rot well before the water can diffuse away.
– L.Dutch♦
11 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
If "all of the water disappears" includes the water in the krakens and you could keep the bay dry, then you would likely end up with some shriveled kraken mummies that could easily last a couple thousand years.
Mummification works best on desiccated corpses that are left in dry areas, which describes the krakens and your former bay perfectly. As you expected, salt would help preserve them by leeching extra moisture out from the carcasses. However, the key is keeping the bay dry: unless the wizards also dam up the entrance to the bay and ensure that it doesn't fill with rain water or humid air, then no amount of salt would help them and they would quickly rot.
As a side note, if you wanted some natural kraken salt statues then the magical organization can regularly let water seep into the bay/krakens before removing it again. This cycle of seeping/evaporation will fill the kraken's cells with salt in a process called permineralization, the end result being petrified kraken corpses made entirely of salt with little to no organic material remaining.
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
If "all of the water disappears" includes the water in the krakens and you could keep the bay dry, then you would likely end up with some shriveled kraken mummies that could easily last a couple thousand years.
Mummification works best on desiccated corpses that are left in dry areas, which describes the krakens and your former bay perfectly. As you expected, salt would help preserve them by leeching extra moisture out from the carcasses. However, the key is keeping the bay dry: unless the wizards also dam up the entrance to the bay and ensure that it doesn't fill with rain water or humid air, then no amount of salt would help them and they would quickly rot.
As a side note, if you wanted some natural kraken salt statues then the magical organization can regularly let water seep into the bay/krakens before removing it again. This cycle of seeping/evaporation will fill the kraken's cells with salt in a process called permineralization, the end result being petrified kraken corpses made entirely of salt with little to no organic material remaining.
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
up vote
7
down vote
If "all of the water disappears" includes the water in the krakens and you could keep the bay dry, then you would likely end up with some shriveled kraken mummies that could easily last a couple thousand years.
Mummification works best on desiccated corpses that are left in dry areas, which describes the krakens and your former bay perfectly. As you expected, salt would help preserve them by leeching extra moisture out from the carcasses. However, the key is keeping the bay dry: unless the wizards also dam up the entrance to the bay and ensure that it doesn't fill with rain water or humid air, then no amount of salt would help them and they would quickly rot.
As a side note, if you wanted some natural kraken salt statues then the magical organization can regularly let water seep into the bay/krakens before removing it again. This cycle of seeping/evaporation will fill the kraken's cells with salt in a process called permineralization, the end result being petrified kraken corpses made entirely of salt with little to no organic material remaining.
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
If "all of the water disappears" includes the water in the krakens and you could keep the bay dry, then you would likely end up with some shriveled kraken mummies that could easily last a couple thousand years.
Mummification works best on desiccated corpses that are left in dry areas, which describes the krakens and your former bay perfectly. As you expected, salt would help preserve them by leeching extra moisture out from the carcasses. However, the key is keeping the bay dry: unless the wizards also dam up the entrance to the bay and ensure that it doesn't fill with rain water or humid air, then no amount of salt would help them and they would quickly rot.
As a side note, if you wanted some natural kraken salt statues then the magical organization can regularly let water seep into the bay/krakens before removing it again. This cycle of seeping/evaporation will fill the kraken's cells with salt in a process called permineralization, the end result being petrified kraken corpses made entirely of salt with little to no organic material remaining.
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
edited 7 hours ago
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
answered 11 hours ago
Giter
9,81842231
9,81842231
add a comment |Â
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10
I think you need to define "Kraken" somewhat as it can be used to refer to a variety of creatures of vastly different configuration and origin. Also what happens to the landscape after the great drying and it's climate going forward is very important to the eventual outcome.
– Ash
12 hours ago
3
Considering that Kraken are mostly made up of water, the salt would actually help destroy their carcasses initially.
– Hosch250
12 hours ago
3
I suspect the real problem would be enterprising restaurateurs. I'd have trouble leaving that much prime calamari alone for two millennia.
– pojo-guy
11 hours ago
8
"Only the bones are left": what "bones"? Traditional krakens are molluscs, specifically some sort of cephalopod. What kind of animals are those bony krakens?
– AlexP
11 hours ago
6
"before they rot away and only the bones are left", now I'm imagining one of those dinosaur skeleton displays at a museum that just has a big beak hanging from a wire in a giant room with a sign saying 'Full, intact Kraken skeleton'...
– Giter
11 hours ago