Our tiniest ocean critters are eating microplastics too

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-29 10:01

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European researchers have found microplastics in the bodies of krill and salps - a small shrimp-like crustacean and a gelatinous invertebrate - living in the Southern Ocean (the one off the south coast of Australia). These little guys are critical to the diets of much of the animals living in the Southern Ocean, as well as being the main food source for whales, penguins, seals, and a few larger marine birds. The team say that, from their samples, around 60% of the krill and salps contained nylon. They add that “In addition to being important food sources in the Antarctic marine ecosystem, krill and salps play an important role in slowing down climate change. The Southern Ocean is a hugely important carbon sink and these animals play an integral part transferring atmospheric CO2 into the deep oceans. Interactions with microplastics have the potential to interfere with the amount of carbon these organisms can take down and trap in the deep ocean.”