The 2,000-year-old warship contains more than a hundred species of animals

After being submerged for a long time under the sea, the wreck became inhabited by a diverse and structurally complex biome.

Researchers found 114 species of marine animals living in the wreck of an ancient warship off the coast of Sicily, Italy, Mail on December 30 reported. The ship from Carthage sank on March 10, 241 BC, during a naval battle near the Aegadian Islands, waters northwest of Sicily. Once there, the army of the Roman Republic annihilated the army from Carthage, ending the First Punic War.

The tip of the Carthaginian warship sunk more than 2,000 years ago near Sicily.

The tip of the ship, nicknamed Egadi 13, was discovered in 2017 at a depth of about 90 meters by a team of marine archaeologists at the Sicily Regional Marine Authority and divers from Global Underwater Explorers. . New analysis reveals that marine life thrives on it.

"Wrecks are often studied to track colonization of marine life, but very rarely have studies focused on ships that sunk more than a century ago," said Dr Sandra Ricci at the Central Institute for Recovery (ICR) ) said.

Ricci and his colleagues found a species-rich, structurally and spatially complex biome, with 114 invertebrate species. Among these, there are 33 species of gastropods, 25 species of bivalve molluscs, 33 species of polychaetes and 23 species of mosses.

"We infer that the main 'builders' in this biome are organisms such as polychaetes, mosses, and some bivalves. Tubes, shells, and clusters of individuals that attach directly to surfaces. face of the wreck," said co-author Edoardo Casoli, PhD at Sapienza University.

"Other species act as 'glue': clusters of individuals form bridges between structures made by masons. Then there are 'populations' that do not cling to but move freely between the structures." burrows in the superstructure. However, we do not know the exact order in which these creatures colonized the wreck," added Casoli.

Newer wrecks often have less diverse biomes than their environment, mainly species with long larval stages and can be far dispersed, said team member Dr Maria Flavia Gravina . Meanwhile, Egadi 13 represents the natural environment much better. It contains a diverse biome of species with long and short larval stages, sexual and asexual reproduction, more and less mobile adults, solitary and herd.

"We have demonstrated that ancient wrecks like the Egadi 13 can be a new kind of sampling tool for scientists, serving as an 'ecological memory' of animal colonization." Gravina said.

The Egadi 13 was crafted from a single block of bronze and engraved with an undeciphered inscription in Punic - the ancient Carthaginian language that existed only in the Mediterranean. This spike is more than 60 cm long, about 2.5 cm thick at the front edge and weighs nearly 170 kg. Due to the hollow structure, organisms and sediments have accumulated both inside and outside.