An analysis of the shape and composition of the microparticles suggests they may originate from clothes, indicating that wastewater runoff from washing machines could be polluting deep-sea corals living in previously thought to be "pristine waters".

The University College Cork study, funded by the Marine Research Institute, focused on the Porcupine Bank Canyon and north-eastern Porcupine Seabight.

The team analysed samples from depths of 605m to 2,126m from these marine conservation sites.

The study is published in Marine Pollution Bulletin: Microplastics and cellulosic microparticles in North Atlantic deep waters and in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa