Living Lab

Scientists have found that the 100 life-size statues, which make up British Sculpture Antony Gormley's "Another Place" art installation, on Crosby Beach, UK, have become a haven for a settlement of a particular breed of barnacle - Elminius modestus.

Although the barnacles have been present on North West shorelines since the 1950s, they originate from the coasts of Australia. They are never normally found on sandy beaches such as Crosby but the hard surface of the sculptures has provided them with an ideal habitat for settlement.

The installation of the cast iron figures--each a replica of the artist's own body, and identical in size, shape and material--offer a perfectly replicated study setting to test for the effects of different levels of exposure to the environment, currents and sea level on marine settlements.

The study will end in November, when the Gormley statues will be uprooted and moved to a new home in New York. Before transit they will be cleaned of all trace of the marine life they have housed on Merseyside--just as they were cleaned when they arrived in Crosby from their previous 'homes' across Europe.

-- LiveScience Staff

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Credit: University of Liverpool