Scientists previously thought that marine animals eat the plastic because it looks like prey

Corals may be eating tiny pieces of plastic because they like the taste, a study has found.

Scientists have long known that marine animals mistakenly eat particles of plastic debris because they look like prey.

However, corals have no eyes and therefore visual cues could not account for their choice of meal, the researchers at Duke University in the US said.

Microplastics, tiny pieces of weathered plastic less than 5 millimeters in diameter, began accumulating in the oceans four decades ago and pose a growing threat to many species of birds, turtles, fish, marine mammals and invertebrates.

A blanket of floating plastic debris stretches for almost five miles between Roatan and Cayos Cochinos in the Caribbean CAROLINE POWER PHOTOGRAPH

The scientists conducted experiments using corals collected from waters off the North Carolina coast. They offered small amounts of eight types of microplastics to the corals to see