00:00Scientists have found that coastal species are surviving and reproducing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,
00:06the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world, located between Hawaii and California.
00:12As reported in the journal Nature, Ecology and Evolution, scientists found dozens of marine species that call the patch home.
00:21Some of the 46 different creatures holding onto the debris include sponges, oysters, anemones, crustaceans, barnacles and worms.
00:28The vast majority are species that are typically only found along coastlines.
00:33Insider reports the findings contradict the assumption that coastal species could not survive in areas of open ocean,
00:40therefore creating a new type of ecosystem in which coastal animals live alongside animals that are at home in the
00:47open ocean on the same piece of debris.
00:50The authors of the study concluded the results suggest the lack of available surface limited the colonization of the open
00:56ocean by coastal species.
00:58rather than physiological or ecological constraints as previously assumed.
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