14 DAY TRIAL // Back in January, a cruise ship named Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy, and workers are still trying to extract it from the sand.
Only recently, as many as 200 giant mussels were found to be hiding under the capsized cruise ship, and researchers are now doing their best in rescuing them before the wreck removal process harms them in any way.
Apparently, giant mussels used to be a common sight in the past, yet over-hunting and changes in their environment caused their population to shrink to a considerable extent.
“First we monitored the mussels, counted them, checked their population and measured them.”
“Then we took them one by one, delicately removing them from the seabed, as delicately as possible since the tip is their most vulnerable part,” explains marine biologist Andrea Belluscio.
Once the ship is removed, the giant mussels will be brought back to their original habitat.