AI Summary

An international team of 24 marine scientists, led by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, warned that thousands of commercial vessels stranded for months in the Persian/Arabian Gulf after the Strait of Hormuz closed could become accidental spreaders of invasive species. The study, published in *Biological Invasions*, explains that long periods at anchor allow ship hulls to accumulate dense communities of algae, barnacles, mussels and other invertebrates. When these vessels resume normal trade routes, the attached organisms could be transported worldwide, potentially triggering a large‑scale marine invasive event.

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