New research has found that Fiddler crabs are playing an unheralded role when it comes to hoovering up microplastics found in the world’s mangrove forests and salt marshes.
New research has found that Fiddler crabs are playing an unheralded role when it comes to hoovering up microplastics found in the world’s mangrove forests and salt marshes.
Scientists studying a thriving population of Fiddler crabs in a polluted mangrove forest in Colombia have found that they can ingest and break down large quantities of small plastic particles in the sediment.
The ability to mobilise large amounts of sediment for feeding and sheltering, and the creature’s specialised digestive processes, which earn it the reputation of being an ‘ecosystem engineer’, can break down plastics within days, much faster than sunlight and waves.
Read more at: University of Exeter
A Fiddler crab (Photo Credit: Tarutao National Marine Park in Thailand)
