Sea creatures living in the deepest part of the ocean have been found with man-made fibres in their stomachs for the first time, showing that no part of the world’s seas are now untouched by human rubbish.

Scientists from Newcastle University discovered that every single crustacean surveyed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a six mile deep schism in the Pacific Ocean, had debris in its body.

The team used the same deep-diving technology which was recently used to film the remarkable footage of the trench for the BBC’s new natural history series Blue Planet II.

Fragments found in the stomachs and muscles of sea creatures included synthetic fibres including Rayon, Lyocell and Ramie as well as textiles such as Nylon, polyethylene and polyvinyl.