February 18, 2020
We found that the corals ate all of the plastic types
Since plastic is largely indigestible, it can lead to intestinal blockages,
create a false sense of fullness or reduce energy reserves in animals that
consume it. Researchers conducted their two-part study using corals collected
from waters off the North Carolina coast."Corals in our experiments ate all
types of plastics but preferred unfouled microplastics by a threefold difference
over microplastics covered in bacteria," said Austin S Allen, a PhD student at
Duke&wholesale instant water tap electric faucet39;s Nicholas School of the Environment.
They pose a major
threat to foraging sea animals, including many species of birds, turtles, fish,
marine mammals and invertebrates.Scientists have long known that marine animals
mistakenly eat plastic debris because the tiny bits of floating plastic might
look like prey.Visual cues, such as a resemblance to prey, do not factor into
the appeal because corals have no eyes, researchers said.In their first
experiment, they offered small amounts of eight different types of microplastics
to the corals to see if the animals would eat the bite-sized bits versus other
similarly-sized items offered to them, such as clean sand..Researchers conducted
their two-part study using corals collected from waters off the North Carolina
coast.Microplastics, tiny pieces of weathered plastic less than five millimetres
in diameter, began accumulating in the oceans four decades ago and are now
ubiquitous in the marine environment."About eight per cent of the plastic that
coral polyps in our study ingested was still stuck in their guts after 24
hours," said Allen. (Photo: Pixabay) # Corals may have developed a preference
for consuming plastic bits, putting them at risk of being choked by the
indigestible materials, a study has found.Further research will be needed to
identify the specific additives that make the plastic so tasty to corals and
determine if the same chemicals act as feeding stimulants to other marine
species, researchers said."
When plastic comes from the factory, it has hundreds
of chemical additives on it. Any one of these chemicals or a combination of them
could be acting as a stimulant that makes plastic appealing to corals," said
Alexander C Seymour, from Duke's Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Center."This
suggests the plastic itself contains something that makes it tasty," said
Allen.The study of plastic ingestion by corals by researchers from Duke
University in the US suggests there may be an additional reason for the
potentially harmful behaviour."
We found that the corals ate all of the plastic
types we offered and mostly ignored sand," Allen said.Researchers conducted
their two-part study using corals collected from waters off the North Carolina
coast.The biological effects of most of these compounds are still unknown, but
some, such as phthalates, are confirmed environmental estrogens and androgens -
hormones that affect sex determination
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