A sunken World War II hospital ship off the coast of Albania has attracted both invasive devil firefish and rare Mediterranean monk seals, leading researchers to weigh the risks and benefits of these wrecks for local ecosystems.
The ship, called the Po, sank off Vlora Bay in 1941 after being hit by a torpedo from a British Fairey Swordfish aircraft during the Greco-Italian War, one of the conflicts within World War II. It is now acting as an artificial reef, with over 80% of its surface teeming with marine life, researchers reported July 27 in the journal Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability.
This phenomenon, by which submerged structures attract marine life, is called the artificial reef effect, and it occurs when marine life colonizes a newly introduced solid structure underwater. These structures can provide shelter because crevices and dens serve as hiding places, as well as food from the algae and other organisms that grow on its surface.
While there has been research on Vlora Bay generally, there was no historical biological or quantitative data ...
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