Plastic Is Melting Onto Corals

Scientists have been recording marine animals entangled in or consuming plastic debris for over half a century, some even proposing the term “Plastocene” (the Plastic Age) to denote the geological epoch spanning from the 1950s onward. And now researchers have discovered a new way these substances are polluting the environment: Plastic is fusing with corals.

The discovery of this conglomerate—which researchers have dubbed “plasticoral”—was made during a survey of the beaches of the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan. The scientists noticed small, brightly colored spots embedded in the white coral gravel. They collected samples from three beaches on the main island, Okinawa, and brought them to the lab where spectroscopic analysis revealed there were polymers derived from common household plastics.