Taste, not appearance, drives corals to eat plastics

Sightless corals aren't making the mistake on appearance

Date:  October 24, 2017

Source:  Duke University

Summary:

Scientists have long known that marine animals mistakenly eat plastic debris because tiny bits of floating plastic look like prey. But a new study of plastic ingestion by corals suggests there may be an additional reason for the potentially harmful behavior: The plastic simply tastes good. Chemical additives in the plastic may be acting as a feeding stimulant.

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