Thousands of idle ships trapped near the Strait of Hormuz could become floating nurseries for invasive marine species

(Representative Image) Image source: Getty Images Having escalated into open hostilities on February 28, 2026, the current United States and Iran war has been going on for nearly five months. In this period, the Strait of Hormuz, the only open-ocean exit for major producers like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and the UAE has been in chokehold. The strait is the world's most critical maritime energy chokepoint, facilitating the passage of roughly 600 billion worth of energy trade annually. According to estimates, about 1,500 vessels are stuck in the Persian Gulf, and several hundred more are stuck in the adjacent Gulf of Oman.Now according to new research, something growing on the hulls of these ships could spread worldwide when the trade resumes. The study published in Biological Invasions, was led by an international team of 24 marine scientists, led by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), and including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).The team cautioned that thousands of commercial vessels stranded for months in the Persian/Arabian Gulf following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could unintentionally trigger a massive marine in...