The pollutant "microplastic" was in the stomach of 73% of the fish stomach of the Atlantic / Middle deep sea water layer

byAnnie Spratt

Particulate plastic particles "Micro PlasticIt is concerned that it diffuses in the sea and contaminates the ocean and affects marine organisms. Fish inhabiting in the mid-deep-sea aquifer have been thought to be less involved in diffusion of microplastic so far, but in a new study, about three-quarters of the fish in the Atlantic Northwest / Mid-Deep Aquifer are stomach It was announced that microplastic was detected from.

Frontiers | Frequency of Microplastics in Mesopelagic Fishes from the Northwest Atlantic | Marine Science
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00039/full

High levels of microplastics found in Northwest Atlantic fish
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-high-microplastics-northwest-atlantic-fish.html

Micro plastic is a small plastic particle and is considered to accumulate in the ocean due to environmental pollution lasting several decades. Although the effect of microplastic on human beings and animals is still being studied, it has been shown that marine organisms may have an effect such as inflammation and weight loss. It is also thought that contamination spreads by repeating predatory behaviors in ecosystems, and micropolymers adhere to chemical contaminants, so that poisons accumulate in predators.

In the research of 2016, it was found that frying fish grown in seawater including microplastic had dramatically less movement distances and behaviors than seawater frys without microplastic. It also shows that the higher the density of microplastic is, the slower the growth of frying fish.

Possibility that microscopic "microplastic" human beings hinder fish growth - GIGAZINE


Frontiers in Marine ScienceAccording to a new paper published at the Atlantic Ocean, micro plastics were detected from 73% of the stomachs of fish inhabiting the Atlantic Northwest / Middle Deepwater Aquifer. This is a high level even on a worldwide level, and there is concern that micro plastics can spread throughout the world through fish through fish. It is also possible that another fish predisposes fish that have microplastic in their stomach and that human beings finally eat that fish, and it is possible that micropolymer poison may affect human table .

byrawpixel.com

Contamination by microplastic is a relatively new topic, but in recent years some governments are considering banning microplastic used in cosmetics. Alina Wieczorek of the National University of Ireland who studied "It is critical for ocean ecosystems and biogeochemistry cycles in general to take high proportion of microplastic fish living in the middle deep sea aquifer" I said.

Fishes in the middle deep sea aquifer are fish that will serve as food for tuna, swordfish, dolphins, seals, birds and so on. It inhabits the water depth of 200 to 1000 m, rises to the sea surface at night and eats food, and it reaches sea deep again in the daytime. Such behavior is important for the circulation behavior of chemical substances on the earth, but at this time it also diffuses microplastic. However, because there are still few studies investigating fish behavior in the middle deepwater aquifer about diffusion of microplastic, Mr. Wieczorek seems to have studied fish off Northwest of the Atlantic.

"These fish living in a place far from the continent should not be influenced by the microplastic human discharged theoretically, but since they regularly travel to the sea surface, they ingested microplastic We are thinking that it is not, "said Wieczorek. According to the research team, the stomach of the fish contained a high level of plastic fiber used for fabrics.

byMathijs Vos

Some researchers underestimate the plastic fibers found in the stomach of fish as "those affected by the laboratory's environment", but Wieczorek said that in this research, plastic fibers It is said that we cautiously removed the influence of it.

Mr. Wieczorek plans to further deepen research on how the fish in the middle deep sea aquifer intake microplastic and diffuse in the future.