Corals in the Great Barrier Reef are eating small plastic debris in the ocean, Australian researchers said Tuesday, raising fears about the impact the indigestible fragments have on their health and other marine life. The scientists found that when they placed corals from the reef into plastic-contaminated water, the marine life ‘’ate plastic at rates only slightly lower than their normal rate of feeding on marine plankton’’, the study published in the journal Marine Biology said. ‘’If microplastic pollution increases on the Great Barrier Reef, corals could be negatively affected as their tiny stomach cavities become full of indigestible plastic,’’ Mia Hoogenboom of Queensland state’s James Cook University said.

Fears over plasticeating corals. (2015, February 25). Manila Bulletin, p. 12.