During routine beach litter surveys on the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan, researchers came across small, brightly colored specks in the pale coral rubble.
Back at the lab, spectroscopic and microscopic analyses revealed that these specks are, in fact, melted polymers from common household plastics that have seeped inseparably into the skeletal pores of the dead coral pieces.
In a new paper published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of the Ryukyus describe what first author Dr. Ifenna Ilechukwu and senior author Professor James D. Reimer have dubbed 'plasticorals'. A type of plastiglomerate - hybrid debris formed from plastic and naturally occurring materials - they represent the long-lasting impact of plastic pollution on reef ecosystems that are already threatened by climate change and other human activities.
