Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, an associate professor in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (left), and Jeremy Axworthy, a UW doctoral student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, observe a demonstration of a coral feeding on microplastics in 2019.

Michelle DiBenedetto

Under a black light, fluorescent green microplastics are seen in the water during a small demonstration experiment. In the 2018 experiment described in Padilla-Gamiño's paper, cauliflower coral (above) ingested microplastics when prey was also present in the water, but avoided eating microplastics when no prey was there.

Michelle DiBenedetto, UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering (foreground), and Luci Baker, a UW postdoctoral fellow in mechanical engineering, monitor plastic particles in a wave tank during an experiment in 2022. The team has cameras, two of which are shown here (black boxes, center right), set up to track how the particles move through the water.

Michelle DiBenedetto, UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and team study different sizes and shapes of plastic particles. One variety is shown here.