Return of a Castaway
The gripping story of a boring clam
By Kristin Cobb
Among the great scourges to plague humanity, the shipworm must be one of the most underappreciated. Since antiquity, these wood-boring sea animals have sunk ships around the world and quietly altered history (see box, below). They disappeared into obscurity in the past century because metal and fiberglass replaced wood in boats and builders of piers and bulkheads started using chemically treated wood. But don’t dismiss these would-be skunks at the boating party yet. Each year, shipworms still cause an estimated $1 billion in damage to wooden vessels and maritime structures worldwide.
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They’re especially burdensome in developing nations, where fishermen can often afford only wooden boats and cheap paint for the hulls. Moreover, they’ve been forging a costly comeback in some U.S. harbors.