A scientist has filmed the moment plastic microfibre is ingested by plankton¹, illustrating² how the material is affecting life beneath the waves.

 

一位科学家拍到了浮游生物吞食塑料微细纤维的画面，说明塑料如何影响海洋里的生物。

 

The footage shows one way that waste plastic could be entering the marine³ and global food chain.

 

An estimated 150 million tonnes of plastic "disappears" from the world's waste stream each year.

 

Waste plastic in the world's seas has been recognised by the United Nations as a major environmental problem.

 

"When I saw it, I thought that here was something, visually, to convey to the public the problem of plastic in the sea," said Richard Kirby, who recorded the footage.

 

"What intrigues⁴ me is that because the fibre has made a loop inside the animal's gut⁵, you can actually see the consequences of something as small as the arrow worm consuming microplastic.

 

Dr Kirby said that people were familiar with the idea of large marine animals - such as whales, seals and birds - swallowing plastic bags.

 

"But here we have something where we actually see that at a tiny fibre has caused a blockage⁶ in something as small as a Sagitta setosa, a member of the plankton, stopping food progressing down.

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