Image: Haram et al.
Giant patches of plastic floating in the ocean have become home to an experiment in a new hybrid ecosystem, made up of stowaway species from coastal environments and organisms that dwell in the middle of the Pacific. Meet the "neopelagic" world.
Is plastic trash in the middle of the ocean becoming a new kind of island habitat?
Warren Cornwall, Anthropocene.
Finding a sea anemone bobbing in the middle of the ocean is a bit like stumbling across a rainforest-dwelling kapok tree perched on a Saharan sand dune. Yet, that’s what has happened in recent years as people sailing the Pacific Ocean in search of plastic trash capture entire communities of coastal organisms clinging to debris hundreds of kilometers from the nearest beach.
The discovery of sea anemones that normally dwell near the shore, seemingly thriving in the ocean on small islands of trash, is forcing scientists to rethink basic assumptions about where different species can live. They have even proposed a new name for this type of community—neopelagic, or “new open ocean.”
““The open ocean has not been habitable for coastal organisms until now”
The Study: Haram, et. al. “Emergence of a neopelagic community through the establishment of coastal species on the high seas.” Nature Communications, Dec. 2. 2021.