''Eurythenes plasticus'' is a species of

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

of the genus

Eurythenes ''Eurythenes'' is a genus of marine amphipods in the family Eurytheneidae. Species *''Eurythenes aequilatus, E. aequilatus'' Narahara-Nakano, Nakano & Tomikawa, 2017 *''Eurythenes andhakarae, E. andhakarae'' d'Udekem d'Acoz & Havermans, 2015 * ...

, first described in 2020. It was named in reference to the

PET plastic A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

found in its stomach, after researchers wanted to highlight the impact of

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

. ''Eurythenes plasticus'' was found at depths between and deep in the

Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deep sea, deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maxi ...

of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in 2014. Researchers from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

caught four specimens, one of which had plastic particles in its body. The plastic microfibre that was found in its

hindgut The hindgut (or epigaster) is the posterior ( caudal) part of the alimentary canal. In mammals, it includes the distal one third of the transverse colon and the splenic flexure, the descending colon, sigmoid colon and up to the ano-rectal junct ...

was 84% similar to PET plastic, showing plastic pollution affects marine organisms even below sea level.

References

plasticus Plastics and the environment Crustaceans described in 2020 {{amphipod-stub