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Scientists Warn of Threat of Plastic Waste on Marine Life

A huge belt of plastic photographed floating off the coast of the Caribbean island of Roatan, Honduras. (AFP)
A huge belt of plastic photographed floating off the coast of the Caribbean island of Roatan, Honduras. (AFP)
    Sydney, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Scientists Warn of Threat of Plastic Waste on Marine Life

A huge belt of plastic photographed floating off the coast of the Caribbean island of Roatan, Honduras. (AFP)
A huge belt of plastic photographed floating off the coast of the Caribbean island of Roatan, Honduras. (AFP)

Scientists are warning that micro-plastics in the ocean and the toxic chemicals in them are posing a significant risk to giant animals like whales, sharks and manta rays that are marine filter feeders.

A new study published in the Trends in Ecology and Evolution journal said that such animals swallow thousands of cubic meters of seawater daily in an effort to capture plankton, in which case they can ingest micro-plastics directly from polluted water or indirectly through contaminated prey, the German News Agency (dpa) reported.

Micro-plastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long, which are harmful to marine life.

The study added that plastic-associated chemicals and pollutants can accumulate over decades and alter biological processes in the animals, leading to altered growth, development and reproduction, including reduced fertility.

Elitza Germanov, lead researcher of the study, said: “While a definitive connection between micro-plastic ingestion and toxin exposure for filter feeders remains to be confirmed, studies into seabirds and small fish have found a link.”

The marine species are also in danger due to their habitat areas overlapping micro-plastic pollution hotspots like the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Coral Triangle (an area from Malaysia to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific).

Many of the animals, like manta rays, are threatened species, so it is difficult to assess plastic concentrations via conventional methods, such as stomach analysis, Germanov said.

The study’s lead author explained: “So we are using the non-lethal sampling of small amounts of tissue, which we are testing for chemical tracers using sophisticated and sensitive analytical tools.”

Many of the filter-feeding animals live a long life, but have few offspring throughout their lives.

Maria Cristina Fossi, a co-author of the study, said another study she led on whale sharks in the Gulf of California and on fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea confirmed exposure to toxic chemicals.

“As these areas are hotspots for micro-plastics, our results could indicate that filter feeders are taking up micro-plastics in their feeding grounds,” she said.

Lately, there has been a large number of reports and studies on marine life facing an existential threat from the millions of tons of plastic waste that end up in the oceans each year.

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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."