This research conducted by France Collard, a doctoral student in the Functional and Evolutionary Morphology Laboratory of the University of Liege studies the presence of microplastics in the digestive system of three commercialized species of fish from the North Sea, the Channel and the Mediterranean. The three species concerned are the herring, sardine and anchovy respectively. The researchers focussed only the experiment of a new method of detection and isolation of these particles in fish stomachs. The next step will confirm the results of this study by precisely identifying the type and number of microplastics ingested as well as the way the fish swallow them. For the moment, the method suggested by France Collard is an opportunity to greatly improve research on the detection of marine pollution by microplastics (1). The research also led to another astonishing discovery: fish stomachs contain as many fibres of cellulose as plastic!

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(1) Detection of anthropogenic particles in fish stomachs : an isolation method adapted to indentification by Raman spectroscopy, Collard France, Bernard Gilbert, Gauthier Eppe, Eric Parmentier, Krishna Das, August 20th 2015, in Archives of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology, http://hdl.handle.net/2268/184719