Our trash has reached the stomachs of some of the deepest fish in the ocean.
Researchers said 73% of deepwater fish in the North Atlantic Ocean had eaten particles of plastic, known as microplastics. This is among the highest percentages ever found in fish on Earth, according to a study released this week.
Microplastics are small plastic fragments that typically come from the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic that eventually end up in our oceans.
These fragments can cause significant issues for marine organisms that eat them, including inflammation, reduced feeding and weight loss, the study said.
"These seemingly remote fishes located thousands of kilometers (miles) from land and 600 meters (2,000 feet) down in our ocean are not isolated from our pollution," said study co-author Tom Doyle, a marine biologist at the National University of Ireland in Galway.
Using fish nets, scientists picked up over 200 fish while on a sea cruise across the North Atlantic. Upon return to Ireland, the fish were inspected for microplastics in their stomach contents.
One of the creatures, a spotted lanternfish, which was less than 2 inches long, had 13 separate pieces of microplastic extracted from its stomach contents, said study lead author Alina Wieczorek, also of the National University of Ireland.
Though the fish mostly live in deep water, Wieczorek said they migrate to the surface at night to feed on plankton, and this is likely when they eat the plastic, which floats at the top of the ocean.
"It’s worrying to think that our daily activities, such as washing our synthetic clothes in our washing machines, results in billions of microplastics entering our oceans through our wastewater stream that may eventually end up in these deep sea fishes," Doyle said. Some of the microplastic in the ocean comes from clothing fibers.
In addition to the laternfish, the fish studied include some rather ugly deep-sea species with unusual names such as rakery beaconlamps, stout sawpalates and scaly dragonfish — all quite unlike the photogenic coral reef critters in movies like Finding Nemo.
The study was published in the international peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
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