Researchers have found a new threat to the health of ocean reefs, and that threat is microplastic pollution. Though microbeads may help you clean and exfoliate, they are causing great harm to corals. “Corals get energy from photosynthesis by symbiotic algae living within their tissues, but they also feed on a variety of other food including zooplankton, sediment and other microscopic organisms that live in seawater," said study lead author Nora Hall. By consuming microbeads, the coral’s stomach can fill up with these plastic toxins and die from a lack of proper digestion of real food. There is still more research to be done to investigate the affects of microbeads and micro plastic pollution on the growth and survival of reef-based fish.
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