Remember that plastic silently changes many of our animal kingdom friends from male, to female. It's working on our young babies as well.

'Gender-bending' chemicals found to 'feminise' boys
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7440-gender-bending-chemicals-found-to-feminise-boys/

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Even the most remote Pacific reefs aren’t safe—microplastics are turning everyday fish into silent carriers of global pollution.

An extensive new analysis reports that roughly one out of every three fish living in remote Pacific Island coastal waters contains microplastics. The findings, published today (January 28, 2026) in the open-access journal PLOS One, were led by Jasha Dehm of the University of the South Pacific and reveal especially high contamination levels in Fiji.

Microplastics are now recognized as a global environmental threat, affecting marine ecosystems and raising concerns about human health. Although Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) are often viewed as isolated, researchers say these regions may face heightened exposure due to rapid urban growth and limited waste and water treatment infrastructure. Fish play a central role in local diets, livelihoods, and cultural traditions, meaning plastic contamination could have direct consequences for many coastal communities. Until now, however, little research had examined microplastics in fish commonly eaten across the PICTs.

Fiji stood out with nearly 75% of sampled fish containing microplastics, well above the global average of 49%. Despite this high frequency, the actual amount of plastic found in individual fish was generally low. At the other end of the spectrum, only about 5% of fish sampled in Vanuatu showed signs of microplastic contamination. While each island nation supports different fish populations, two species appeared in catches from all four countries — the thumbprint emperor (Lethrinus harak) and the dash-and-dot goatfish (Parupeneus barberinus) — and both showed higher contamination levels in Fiji than elsewhere.
Why Some Fish Are More Likely to Contain Plastic

The researchers also examined how a fish’s ecological traits influenced its likelihood of ingesting microplastics. Using a global database of fish species, they analyzed factors such as diet, feeding behavior, and habitat. Reef-associated and bottom-dwelling fish were found to contain microplastics more often than species living in lagoons, coastal waters, or the open ocean.

Fish that feed on invertebrates, forage along the seafloor, or rely on ambush strategies to capture prey were also more likely to ingest plastic particles. These patterns suggest that where and how fish feed plays a major role in determining their exposure to microplastics.