scientists Henrietta Mann and Bhavleen Kaur and researchers from the University of Sevilla in Spain were able to identify a new bacterial species collected from rusticles (a formation of rust similar to an icicle or stalactite) from the Titanic wreck.
https://www.livescience.com/9079-species-rust-eating-bacteria-destroying-titanic.html
Hard for a rust-eating bacterium to survive where there's no rust to eat.
LOL!
“(a formation of rust similar to an icicle or stalactite) “
They are forming the ‘rust’, not eating it.