More plastic, less glow? Pollution threatens deep sea’s bioluminescent life, experts warn

Researchers writing in the journal Cambridge Prisms: Plastics warn that plastic ingested by deep-sea creatures could interfere with the chemical processes behind bioluminescence, the light produced by up to 80% of complex-celled organisms in the deep ocean. That light is how creatures like the anglerfish attract prey and find mates in total darkness, so disrupting it could ripple through deep-sea food webs.

Co-author Renjith VishnuRadhan said toxic additives in plastic could theoretically disrupt the bacterial symbiosis that powers an anglerfish's glowing lure, though he acknowledged the field currently lacks the in situ data to prove exposure causes the effect rather than just correlating with it. Independent expert Edith Widder agreed the threat remains uncertain and would require long-term monitoring to confirm.

Both researchers described the science as an emerging area rather than settled fact, noting current work is moving from simply detecting plastic in the deep sea toward studying ingestion, chemical leaching and biological stress.

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