The Latidute Report

Coastal species that supposedly cannot survive in the open ocean are now living and breeding on plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Scientists have identified 46 invertebrate species on floating trash, 37 of them coastal, forming what they call a "neopelagic community." This human-made ecosystem could become a stepping-stone for invasive species reaching new coastlines, complicating cleanup efforts and raising hard questions about what to do with biologically colonized debris.