It seems nowhere on Earth is safe from the creeping , deadly fingers of pollution . Scientists analyzing cryptical - sea crustaceans found traces of manmade chemicals in the animals ’ bodies . The researchers published their findings in the journalNature Ecology & Evolution .
Amphipods , like the one picture above , are small , eyeless crustaceans that make their homes in the deep , glowering parts of the sea . The key to the deepwater amphipod ’s survival is its tummy ; it is both notoriously unfussy about what it eats , and gifted with special enzyme that avail it digest just about anything , include plastic , animate being carcasses , and evensunken ships .
But the sea are a wild place to dine these day . scientist have found unsafe chemical , character , and pieces of plastic in the organic structure ofseabirds , mammal , mollusk , andfishalike .
The dubiousness for oceanographer Alan Jamieson and his colleagues was uncomplicated : How far down do these pollutants go ?
To find out , they used deep - sea lander to collect three species of amphipod from theMarianaand Kermadec Trenches in the Pacific Ocean . They brought the fauna back to the science laboratory and test their fatty tissue , looking for traces of 14 unlike pollutants .
And there they were . eminent levels of pollutants , admit flame retardent chemical substance , were found in every sample from every metal money , regardless of the depth at which the sample was collected . The contaminant was so bad , it was corresponding to that find in Japan ’s Suruga Bay , long known for its gamey level of industrial pollution .
The author say the chemical most likely reached the trench while clinging topieces of credit card garbageor the body of dead beast from closer to the control surface .
Biologist Katherine Dafforn of the University of New South Wales weigh in on the research in an accompanying newspaper column . She conclude that “ Jamieson et al . have provided clear evidence that the cryptical ocean , rather than being outside , is highly connected to surface waters and has been exposed to important concentrations of human - made pollutant . ”
