With the world's oceans becoming choked with plastic, it's easy to see that it's probably not a good thing. And when scientists in Australia found that corals on the Great Barrier Reef readily eat micro-plastic pollution, they were concerned. The reef is already threatened by the effects of climate change, problems from land-based run-offs, fishing, and expanding coastal development.

 

"Corals are non-selective feeders and our results show that they can consume microplastics when the plastics are present in seawater. If microplastic pollution increases on the Great Barrier Reef, corals could be negatively affected as their tiny stomach-cavities become full of indigestible plastic" said Dr. Mia Hoogenboom, a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University and a lead author of the study.