Plastic Cigarette Wrapper Found Inside a Jellyfish

The still legible label is a reminder that plastics are everywhere.

In partnership with the National Geographic Society. This story is part of Planet or Plastic?—our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge.

If you look closely, you can just make out the words “Philip Morris International.” The tobacco company's name can be seen on the translucent strip of a cigarette box wrapper that was photographed inside a mauve stinger jellyfish found swimming through the Mediterranean Sea.

Animals trying to avoid ocean plastic have to navigate a minefield. Eighteen billion pounds of it flows into the ocean every year, making it difficult for animals, like jellyfish, to avoid.

Last April, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports published the first documentation of plastic in a jellyfish.

The jelly was found in the Mediterranean Ocean in 2016 by a group of scientists participating in the Aquatilis Expedition, a three-year research

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