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Plastic Bottle Cap Found off Kochi Carried 307 Marine Organisms Across Pacific
A research team recovered a 3.5-centimeter plastic bottle cap off Kochi Prefecture that contained a lugworm nest and 307 organisms. The cap originated from the Philippines and drifted more than 70 days via the Kuroshio Current. The finding was detailed in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Jul 20, 2:07 AM·1m read1 source
The Japan TimesAudio version
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A Japanese research team recovered a plastic bottle cap roughly 3.5 centimeters in diameter off Kochi Prefecture that held a nest built by lugworms and 307 individual marine organisms. The Kaimei research ship operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology collected the cap, which bore the name of a Philippine beverage maker. The nest consisted of mucus and small pebbles.
Organisms inside included barnacles, bryozoans and foraminifera. The team said the organisms likely congregated on the cap after the nest was built on the Philippine coast before the object drifted across the Pacific. Isotopic analysis of oxygen and carbon in the foraminifera shells recorded shifts in water temperatures during transit.
A computer simulation placed the journey at more than 70 days along the Kuroshio Current. The research appeared in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin. The team included researchers from JAMSTEC, Nagoya University, Kyoto University and Fukui Prefectural University.
They stated that floating plastic waste can act as transport for marine organisms and that the approach can help trace routes of alien species and support control measures.
