SAVANNAH, Ga. --- A ship that once helped researchers learn about sea creatures has become a home to those same animals.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources sank the R/V Jane Yarn off the Georgia coast as an artificial reef in late August. It rests under 72 feet of water on a sandy-bottomed area called J Reef, outside Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary.

On a recent dive, sanctuary researchers were surprised to find hoards of fish had already moved in. Four barracudas, with their fierce underbites, call it home. Schools of amber jack and spadefish swarm past the port holes. Black sea bass, grunts and cigar minnows also visit.

Fish can't resist the Jane Yarn, which offers the only shelter in the neighborhood, said Greg McFall, the sanctuary's research coordinator.

"It's like finding a condo out in the desert," Mr. McFall said.

So they moved in fast.

"It was a surprise to see how quickly they colonized the wreck," he said. "To reach the capacity they already have, I thought it would take the better part of a year."

The 63-foot ship was named for Jane Hurt Yarn, a Georgia conservationist who helped convince President Carter to designate Gray's Reef, to the east of St. Catherines Island, a sanctuary.

Danny Gleason, a biologist and Georgia Southern University researcher, said he plans to study the succession of animals on the ship, possibly by scraping off patches of barnacles and monitoring what grows back.