Microplastics are turning the "fast food" of fish

The pollution by plastic waste in the oceans is gaining darker contours. Now, the researchers found that the plastic microparticles, filaments with less than five millimeters, seem to have a "fast food" effect on the fish.

In the research, scientists have identified a species that can actually become addicted to eat microplastics to confuse them with a nutritious food. The full study, published in the journal Science and led by researchers at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, is one of the first to evaluate the impact on marine life of this material, quite common in exfoliating products and other cosmetics.

Held in the Baltic Sea in Europe where there are high concentrations of polyethylene microparticles, the survey found that younger specimens in growth phase, are the most vulnerable to "pseudoalimento" indigestible. It is as if they were misled when judging that it is a high-energy resource that they need to eat to the mountains.

Of course, this type of diet is an invitation to disaster: according to the survey, the fish in water with a greater presence of plastic are physically smaller than the control group of clean water, as well as being slower and more "dumb", taking to escape from potential predators.

Compounding, the researchers noted that, often, the fish chose to eat microplastic even when natural options such as plankton, were readily available.

The study warns that, despite many chemical contaminants are known for Science, little is known about their ecological impacts. "The mechanisms by which microplastics can affect embryos and larvae of aquatic organisms, which are particularly vulnerable to pollutants, are particularly obscure," the researchers note.

The increased use of plastics is in such a significant way, in 2050, the oceans will have more debris that material than fish, warned a recent study by the renowned British sailor Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with McKinsey consultant.

In the end, marine pollution by plastic exposes not only marine animals and their ecosystems, as we humans. A survey released last October showed that no less than a quarter of the fish sold in markets in California and Indonesia contains in its entrails, plastic debris. Well, the world goes round.