http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_403098_en.html

Date: 18 July 2014

Microplastics worse for crabs and other marine life than previously
thought, study shows

The tiny plastic particles polluting our seas are not only orally
ingested by marine creatures, but also enter their systems through their
gills, according to a new study led by the University of Exeter.

Scientists also discovered that when microplastics are drawn in through
this method they take over six times longer to leave the body compared
with standard digestion.

Lead author Dr Andrew Watts of Biosciences at the University of Exeter
said: ?Many studies on microplastics only consider ingestion as a route
of uptake into animals. The results we have just published stress other
routes such as ventilation. We have shown this for crabs, but the same
could apply for other crustaceans, molluscs and fish ? simply any animal
which draws water into a gill-like structure to carry out gas exchange.