Death has always been a great concern for human beings. What happens after you die, what happens to your soul, where do you go, and what happens to your body, and the list could go on and on endlessly. However, one of the most sought-after curiosities is: what happens to a corpse after it dies in the water.
What Happens When a Corpse Is In the Water For a Long Time?
A corpse in the water begins to sink as soon as the air in the lungs is replaced by water. As the submerged corpse decomposes, bacteria in its gut and chest cavity accumulate and produce methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, also known as gas. This combination causes the body to swell and float, even to the surface of the water.
How Long Does It Take for a Body to Decompose in Water?
It takes approximately three weeks for a body to decompose in water and less than four days for it to skeletonize. This process begins with the decomposition of the body’s cells, which causes gases and water. The gases escape from the body and make it float, as mentioned above.
The water then accelerates the decomposition, and the materials sink to the bottom of the water. The whole body can dissolve except the bones, due to the salts in the water. The bones must be crushed to become ashes.
What Happens if No One Rescues the Body?
If the corpse is not found, the human skin begins to decompose, open sores sprout, and it is very likely to get fungal and bacterial infections, no matter if the water is dirty or perfectly sterile.
What a Body Looks Like After Being in the Water?
Because of the water in the lungs, the skin blisters, and takes on a greenish-black color, the face, hands, and feet swell beyond recognition, and the palms and soles of the extremities become discolored and wrinkled.
Can Sea Creatures Eat the Body?
Yes, some will prowl around and probably take a few bites if the body has been in the water for a few hours, but after 24 hours, no one will want to eat it because it is no longer edible to them. Sharks, for example, will swim around you for a maximum of 48 hours as a symbol of protection, but this depends a lot on the species.
As a curious fact: the decomposition process is particularly slow at excessively cold temperatures, so the time until the body reappears on the surface could be extended.
This story was originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva
