Nearly 1,500 ships have been sitting idle in the Persian Gulf for close to five months, trapped since fighting between the US and Iran shut down movement through the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, 2026. Marine scientists now say the real danger from this standoff may not be on these ships at all, it could be growing right beneath them.
A new study in the journal Biological Invasions warns that the hulls of these stranded vessels have turned into breeding grounds for barnacles, mussels, algae and other sea creatures. Led by 24 scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the research says this build-up could trigger what it calls a "bioinvasion super-spreader event" the moment the ships finally start moving again.
