- Who
- Eurythenes plasticus
- What
- / first
- Where
- Unzutreffend ()
- When
Described in the journal Zootaxa on 5 March 2020, Eurythenes plasticus is a novel deep-sea amphipod collected for the first time in 2014. The ninth species of Eurythenes to be formally described, it was so called because one individual was found to have a piece of microplastic in its hindgut – the first time this has been documented in a species new to science. This is despite the fact that the creature inhabits the hadal zone, more than 6,000 metres (19,685 feet) beneath the surface in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench where specimens were retrieved using bait traps positioned from 6,010 metres (19,718 feet) to as deep as 6,949 metres (22,799 feet).
Amphipods are an order or crustaceans, many of which have a shrimp-like appearance. Although found in both marine and terrestrial habitats, all species require damp conditions to survive.
The plastic fibre discovered in the amphipod’s gut was 83.74% similar to PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the most common thermoplastic polymer which is used extensively in food and drinks packaging.
The Mariana Trench is home to the deepest point in the ocean, the Challenger Deep, which extends almost 11 km (6.7 mi) from the surface to the seabed in the northern Pacific, close to the island of Guam. Many new species of deep-sea creature have been identified in this little-explored environment, and continue to be so.
The study was a collaboration between five scientists from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University, UK: PhD student Johanna Weston, Dr Priscilla Carrillo-Barragan, Dr Thomas Linley, Dr William Reid and Dr Alan Jamieson.
