A Greenpeace Philippines display after a sperm whale was found in Indonesia with 1000 plastic piece in its stomach.

At this time of extreme plastic pollution when even our table salt and packaged drinking water has microplastics in them, it is not a surprise that every marine mammal studied has microplastics in their guts. A study by the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in the UK examined the bodies of animals washed up on Britain's shores and found microplastics in all the specimens.

"It is disconcerting that we have found microplastic in the gut of every single animal we have investigated in this study," said Penelope Lindeque, from PML, as per PTI.

Which marine animals did the study include?

Scientists studied 50 animals from 10 species of dolphins, seals and whales and discovered the presence of microplastics in all of them.

The species of marine animals studied were the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, grey seal, harbour porpoise, harbour seal, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, striped dolphin, and the white-beaked dolphin.

The British waters house or act as a passage for a total of 26 species of marine mammals.

Read: Microplastics have not even spared remote creatures residing in the deepest part of Pacific

What kind of microplastic was found in the bodies of marine mammals?

As per the study, around 84 percent of the microplastic found in the guts of the marine mammals that were studied consisted of synthetic fibres. These can come from clothes, fishing nets and toothbrushes.

The rest of the microplastics were fragments which probably came from food packaging and plastic bottles.

Read: Microplastics: The tiny, toxic trash we are dumping by a truckload into oceans every minute!

What kind of effect does the microplastic have on the marine mammals?

"It's shocking - but not surprising - that every animal had ingested microplastics," said Sarah Nelms, of the University of Exeter and PML, according to a PTI report.

"The number of particles in each animal was relatively low (average of 5.5 particles per animal), suggesting they eventually pass through the digestive system, or are regurgitated," said Nelms.

"We don't yet know what effects the microplastics, or the chemicals on and in them, might have on marine mammals," she said.

"More research is needed to better understand the potential impacts on animal health," she added.

The researchers found that the marine animals had died from a variety of causes.



However, the study did find that the studied animals which had died due to infectious diseases had a slightly higher number of plastic particles in their body than those that had died from injuries or other causes.

Read: Concern for health rises as scientists discover plastic fibres in tap water all over the world

What does this finding show about the level of plastic pollution in our oceans?

"We can't draw any firm conclusions on the potential biological significance of this observation," said Brendan Godley, of the University of Exeter, as per PTI.

"We are at the very early stages of understanding this ubiquitous pollutant. We now have a benchmark that future studies can be compared with," he added regarding microplastic pollution.

"Marine mammals are ideal sentinels of our impacts on the marine environment, as they are generally long-lived and many feed high up in the food chain. Our findings are not good news," he said.

Read: Ocean microplastic is now a major risk to whales, says study

Read: Invisible microplastics: New method could help detect 99 per cent lost ocean plastic waste

Read: Killing us slowly, one plastic straw at a time: What India and other countries are doing to fight this