Researchers studied the “thriving” species in a polluted mangrove forest in Colombia.

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    2 months ago

    The University of Exeter said scientists observed fiddler crabs in a polluted mangrove forest in Colombia ingest “large quantities of small plastic particles in the sediment”.

    It said the species could break down plastics within days - but scientists warned of a potential release of harmful nanoplastics into their tissues and, consequently, the food chain.

    Not the magic solution we might have hoped for, unfortunately

    • Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, this stuff is basically undigestable except by specific enzymes or processes. In general, you can pretty much just count on it getting smaller and smaller and more bio-reactive and more prevalent in smaller and smaller life/environmental systems unless it’s chemically destroyed/remediation or filtered and removed from the environment.