>A possible culprit in the degradation of the SS Wisconsin and SS Milwaukee that Thomsen and her co-author had cited in a preliminary report on the former is “t

>A possible culprit in the degradation of the SS Wisconsin and SS Milwaukee that Thomsen and her co-author had cited in a preliminary report on the former is “the introduction of invasive species,” specifically zebra and quagga mussels. These two mollusk species often latch onto iron, steel and other hard materials that are commonly used in ship making. This encrustation can speed up corrosion and obscure a ship’s appearance over time, making it harder to analyze the degradation of the shipwreck. Does this make sense to anyone? It was common knowledge growing up with these mussels that they colonized only about 6-30 inches deep. Past that, your feet basically weren't going to be eviscerated if you stepped somewhere, so I'm wondering how these (presumably deep) shipwrecks are getting colonized. Edited to give more complete quotation.