-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Scientists have discovered a possible new tool for addressing the growing problem of plastic pollution in the world's oceans. A recently published study by an international consortium of researchers details a marine fungus called Parengyodontium album which lives on plastic litter in the ocean. The fungus is capable of breaking down polyethylene particles — the most prevalent commercial plastic in the ocean — once the plastic has been exposed to ultraviolet light.

The team also discovered the amount of time it takes for fungus to do its job. “Marine fungi can break down complex materials made of carbon. There are numerous amounts of marine fungi, so it is likely that in addition to the four species identified so far, other species also contribute to plastic degradation.

There are still many questions about the dynamics of how plastic degradation takes place in deeper layers," lead study author Annika Vaksmaa, of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, said in a Monday release . "What makes this research scientifically outstanding, is that we can quantify the (plastic) degradation process." A plastic particle (red) is colonized by the marine fungus Parengyodontium album.

(Annika Vaksmaa/NIOZ) The discovery was the product of international scientific collaboration between study authors at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and researchers from Utrecht University, the Ocean Cleanup Foundation and research inst.