Crabs Are Creating Nanoplastics That Can End Up in Seafood We Eat

Food & Wine • February 20, 2026 • health

Key Points:

Researchers from Universidad de Antioquia, University of Exeter, and CEMarin studied fiddler crabs in a highly polluted mangrove forest in Colombia to understand their interaction with microplastics.
The crabs accumulated microplastics at 13 times the concentration found in surrounding sediment, with plastic fragments mainly in their digestive organs and gills.
About 15% of the ingested microplastics were broken down into smaller pieces by the crabs' digestive systems, a process more common in female crabs.
While this fragmentation speeds up plastic breakdown, it may release nanoplastics into the food chain, posing challenges for tracking pollution and potential risks to human health through seafood consumption.
The study highlights how marine