Turtle With Plastic Muscles? 44 Loggerhead Sea Turtles Washed Up Dead in Spain Beaches

For the first time, scientists discovered plasticizing chemical additives in the muscle tissues of Mediterranean sea turtles. Researchers discovered traces of plastic in all 44 loggerhead sea turtles washed up dead on beaches in eastern Spain.

Researchers concluded that sea turtles are chronically exposed to plastic in the seas after analyzing the prevalence of toxins and comparing them to the provenance of plastic litter.

Two Loggerhead Turtles Are Returned To The Wild

(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 13: People watch as one of two loggerhead sea turtles are released back into the wild at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park after they underwent rehabilitation at Miami Seaquarium March 13, 2012, in Key Biscayne, Florida. The two loggerhead sea turtles weighing in at 90 lbs and 125 lbs were both found weak in the wild, covered in parasites, and facing buoyancy issues.

Sea turtles, for example, are often harmed by fishing nets, pollution in the oceans, and other plastics that they ingest, sometimes fatally. WWF said loggerhead sea turtles are "endangered species."

Chronically Exposed

The Institute of Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies (Idaea-CSIC) and the University of Barcelona collaborated on the project.

Study lead author Ethel Eljarrat said the team discovered 15 different organophosphate plasticizer compounds in loggerhead turtles.

According to the report, experts found these additives in 44 specimens from the Catalan and Balearic coasts. Plasticizers are applied to polymers to give them the durability, stiffness, or rigidity that the end product needs.

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Harmful Concentrations

The findings, which researchers reported in the specialized journal Environmental Pollution, show plasticizers at concentration levels ranging from 6 to 100 nanograms per gram of muscle. The study, titled "First Study on the Presence of Plastic Additives in Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta Caretta) From the Mediterranean Sea," claimed these levels are close to those previously discovered for other classical organochlorinated pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or the insecticide DDT.

"So far there is no toxicological data to let us know if we are talking about high or low levels is comparing them with other families previously studied, so we compare them with studies of agents such as PCB or DDT," Eljarrat told National Geographic in Spanish.

According to ABC, researchers examined samples of the turtles' daily diet (jellyfish, squid, and sardines) and pieces of marine litter ingested by the turtles. Among these are bags, plugs, sticks, and bits of floating plastics. All of the samples included organophosphorus plasticizers.

Some of them were only found in turtles and garbage samples, indicating that ingestion of these residues leads to the prevalence of toxins in these marine creatures' muscle tissues.

Furthermore, the study claimed that the turtle specimens from the Balearic coast had higher levels of these harmful agents, linked to them coming from the Algerian basin. It has been reported that there is a higher prevalence of plastic garbage at sea.

Would Plastic Compounds Affect Turtle's Health?

Doctor Ejarrat said that the plastic compounds found in the turtles could be affecting their fertility and caused cancer cases in the marine reptiles.

"The toxic effect is not acute, but chronic toxicity," she told Real Press per Daily Mail.

"The fact they are exposed daily to these contaminants could cause problems for their whole life," Ejarrat added.

In addition, loggerhead sea turtles may be more vulnerable to the chemical additives used in plastics than other marine animals.

Dr. Ejarrat also cautioned that if turtles are suffering from these side effects, humans might be at risk as well.

She explained that humans are incorporating toxic compounds in their daily diet through fish and also inhales toxic air, which could affect one's metabolism sooner or later.