Deeply shocking
~
11iE beautiful, interlocldng,
annowl!d plates of this amphipod
are meant to keep it safe from
predators and other threats. But
they can'tprotect it from plastic
pollution. which ia how this
creature got its name.
Burythenea plalticus la a newly
desc.nl>ed shrimp-lite species
foundbetween6and 7kilomems
down in the Pacific: Ocean's
Marlana trench, where Earth's
deepest waters are found.
Johanna Weston at Newcastle
University. UK. and her colleagues
used baited uaps to catch several
specimens, whichcangrowupto
s centimetft!S long. Analysing
their bindguts :mealed that one of
them, a juvenile. had consumed a
mic:roplasticparticlewry similar
to polyethylene ten!phtbalate, or
PET, a plastic often used to make
water bottles and.fabrics.
Theteamnamedthean1mala
pl08tk:u6to send the message that
even seacreatureslivfng so deep
are exposed to this pollution. And
if a juvenile consumed plastic:. this
indicates that such scavengers
could be "ingesting microplastics
throughout their life, which could
pose ac:ute and chronic health
effects", says the team (Zootaxa,
doLorg/dJ>311l).
While the effect1 of exposure
to mkmplastkshaven'tbeen
studied in deep-sea amphipods,
there is evidence that ingesting
one fonn of these particles-
polypropylene fibres-increases
mortality in Pacific: sand aabs. I
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