Discarded Weapons From World War II Become Shelter for Life on the Seafloor — Refuge for Crabs, Fish, and Anemones Amid TNT and Rusty Metals

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 26/09/2025 at 16:00

Updated on 26/09/2025 at 16:59

Be the first to react!

Study Reveals That World War II Warheads in the Baltic Sea, Once Considered Toxic, Now Sustain Dense Colonies of Crabs, Worms, and Starfish.

A surprising finding caught the attention of European scientists: World War II explosives, once considered highly toxic, have turned into a haven for a vibrant community of marine animals in the Baltic Sea.

Researchers who explored an old munitions dump revealed, through a submersible, that crabs, worms, and fish inhabit abandoned warheads in greater numbers than in the surrounding seafloor.

“We were prepared to see significantly lower numbers of all types of animals,” said study author Andrey Vedenin from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany. “But the opposite happened.”

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Hard Surfaces Attract Wildlife

The study focused on Lübeck Bay, where V-1 flying bomb warheads remain submerged. With the help of the submersible, scientists recorded anemones, starfish, and other species living on these structures.

According to ecologist James Porter from the University of Georgia, who did not participate in the research, this is an underexplored field: “Normally, the ecology of bombs is not studied.”

Vedenin explained that the absence of hard surfaces in the Baltic Sea promotes this phenomenon. The seabed is dominated by mud and sand, as stones and gravel were removed in the 19th and 20th centuries for use in construction. The metal carcasses of the warheads serve as rare substrates, allowing benthic organisms to attach.

Additionally, the chemical contamination of the area reduces human presence, creating a kind of isolation that benefits marine fauna.

Adaptation to Toxic Compounds

The team recorded about 43,000 organisms per square meter on the warheads, compared to only 8,200 per square meter in the adjacent sediment.

Even when exposed to substances like TNT and RDX, with concentrations ranging from 30 nanograms to 2.7 milligrams per liter, the animals thrived.

“Overall, the epifaunal community in the munitions dumped in the study area reaches a high density, with the elevated metal structures providing suitable habitat,” the authors wrote.

The majority of species settled on the metal carcasses, not directly on the explosive material, which likely reduced their exposure to toxins. The researchers highlighted that, in this specific case, the remains of war may even contribute to restoring conditions similar to lost natural habitats.

Sunken Ships Also Became Sanctuaries

Similar phenomena have been observed in other locations. In the United States, scholars mapped 147 shipwrecks of the so-called “Ghost Fleet” in Mallows Bay, Maryland. These World War I ships were burned and sunk in the 1920s.

Today, the fleet harbors diverse marine life and also birds, such as osprey. With high-resolution aerial images, researchers created a detailed map of the area, which could serve future ecological, archaeological, and cultural work.

“It’s a really cool testament to the power of life,” said David Johnston, a conservation biologist at Duke University who studies World War I shipwrecks along the Potomac River.

Both the European and North American studies were published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, reinforcing how artificial and unexpected environments can transform into vital refuges for biodiversity.

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

Discarded Weapons From World War II Become Shelter for Life on the Seafloor — Refuge for Crabs, Fish, and Anemones Amid TNT and Rusty Metals

Study Reveals That World War II Warheads in the Baltic Sea, Once Considered Toxic, Now Sustain Dense Colonies of Crabs, Worms, and Starfish.

Hard Surfaces Attract Wildlife

Adaptation to Toxic Compounds

Sunken Ships Also Became Sanctuaries

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

China has deployed snake-shaped robots to slide along power lines, where they have already inspected over 130 kilometers of cables using cameras and sensors to detect damaged wires, worn-out parts, and overheating.

China connects to the power grid the largest ultra-large battery storage station ever built in the world and signs a billion-dollar contract that consolidates a technology capable of sustaining entire cities with clean energy.

Mother of 7 children leaves night job in São Paulo, invests only R$ 86 in artisanal ice creams and sees income become household support: business created at the gate reaches R$ 6,000 per month and aims for a physical store.

An empty spacesuit was launched from the ISS and became a “ghost astronaut” in orbit: the SuitSat floated alone around the Earth transmitting radio signals before burning up in the atmosphere.

Levi’s sees FIFA cover its logo at the 2026 World Cup, joins in the fun without losing style, and turns a white cloth into marketing that goes viral on social media.

Dissatisfied with seeing laptop batteries go to waste, a man collects more than 650 units and transforms the electronic waste into a solar energy storage bank to power his house.

Discarded Weapons From World War II Become Shelter for Life on the Seafloor — Refuge for Crabs, Fish, and Anemones Amid TNT and Rusty Metals

Study Reveals That World War II Warheads in the Baltic Sea, Once Considered Toxic, Now Sustain Dense Colonies of Crabs, Worms, and Starfish.

Hard Surfaces Attract Wildlife

Adaptation to Toxic Compounds

Sunken Ships Also Became Sanctuaries

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

China has deployed snake-shaped robots to slide along power lines, where they have already inspected over 130 kilometers of cables using cameras and sensors to detect damaged wires, worn-out parts, and overheating.

China connects to the power grid the largest ultra-large battery storage station ever built in the world and signs a billion-dollar contract that consolidates a technology capable of sustaining entire cities with clean energy.

Research reveals evidence that autism may represent several different conditions instead of a single disorder, transforming medical strategies, accelerating advances in neuroscience, and increasing the precision of interventions for millions of people.

Neanderthal genes still live in you and may influence the viral load of common infections, reveals genetic study on human immunity.

Technology using saliva: A new method based on biomarkers present in saliva can raise safety standards in traffic and at work, helping to recognize signs of fatigue and drowsiness with the potential to prevent accidents before they happen.

First vaccine created by artificial intelligence is tested on humans and opens a new era in medicine

China connects to the power grid the largest ultra-large battery storage station ever built in the world and signs a billion-dollar contract that consolidates a technology capable of sustaining entire cities with clean energy.

Mother of 7 children leaves night job in São Paulo, invests only R$ 86 in artisanal ice creams and sees income become household support: business created at the gate reaches R$ 6,000 per month and aims for a physical store.

An empty spacesuit was launched from the ISS and became a “ghost astronaut” in orbit: the SuitSat floated alone around the Earth transmitting radio signals before burning up in the atmosphere.

Levi’s sees FIFA cover its logo at the 2026 World Cup, joins in the fun without losing style, and turns a white cloth into marketing that goes viral on social media.

Dissatisfied with seeing laptop batteries go to waste, a man collects more than 650 units and transforms the electronic waste into a solar energy storage bank to power his house.