Dangerous Living

After the 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe, Germany launched a months-long attack on London and Belgium. Its V-1 “buzz bombs” killed thousands. Today, though, the remnants of some of these terror weapons are providing homes for marine life.

An estimated 1.6 million tons of unexploded munitions litter German waters. The weapons were dumped at the end of the two world wars. As their metal casings rust away, their toxic explosives wash into the water.

And that should be bad for marine life. But a recent study found abundant life at a previously unknown dump site: fish, tube worms, anemones, crabs, and sea stars.

The site is at the edge of the Baltic Sea. It’s about 60 to 70 feet deep, and it’s between two well-known dump sites. Researchers mapped the area with underwater cameras. They found a dozen unexploded weapons, which they identified as V-1 warheads.

They also found life—a lot more than expected. Some organisms were living on the metal casings. Others were in the nearby sediments, although few were on the actual explosives. The scientists saw a low diversity of life—there were fewer species than found on natural surfaces in the region. But the density of life was greater than on the surrounding seabed.

Most of the rock was dredged from the bottom of the region for construction projects in the 19th and 20th centuries. So the warheads provide some of the few hard surfaces around—dangerous homes off the German coast.