Microplastics ingested by deep water fish

A study has found that 73% out of 233 deep water fish from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean had ingested plastic particles. The fish were sampled from a warm core eddy, which is a circular current in this ocean. Similar to ocean gyres, these currents are now thought to accumulate microplastics and that the sampled fish may have originated from a particularly polluted patch of the Atlantic Ocean.
Previous studies have shown that microplastics can be ingested by numerous marine animals. What is also of concern is that many of these ingested microplastics have associated additives. An article about the research is published in Frontiers in Marine Science (News Release NUI Galway, 19 February 2018).
Click here for the news release.
Click here for the published article (1.45 MB).
Click here for more information about the NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue.

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