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'Distressing': Video show horrific find inside fish's stomach

A disturbing video shows the moment a fishmonger pulls a plastic cup from the stomach of a fish a customer was about to buy.

The shopper, identified as Mr Yu in Chinese media, was in the process of buying a fish at his local market in Yantai, Shandong, on Wednesday when he said the fish felt abnormal around its stomach, Dazhong Daily reported.

He instructed the worker to cut open the fish to investigate.

Video stills show fishmonger cutting open a fish's stomach.
The fishmonger cuts open the fish's stomach. Source: Weibo

Mr Yu filmed the worker doing so, with the video showing him cutting open the fish' stomach lining before pulling out a broken disposable plastic cup.

The fishmonger informed him this was not the first time such an incident had happened and old food tins had also been discovered inside fishes' stomachs.

Mr Yu said he was disturbed by the discovery and called on people to dispose of their plastic waste responsibly.

His discovery has been viewed more than 70 million times on Chinese social media site Weibo.

Many users shared Mr Yu's concern over the discovery.

"I feel distressed watching this," one person said.

"It is everyone's responsibility to protect the environment," another wrote.

Others were baffled how the fish managed to consume the cup considering its size.

Fourteen million tonnes of plastics in ocean

CSIRO estimates there are 14 million tonnes of plastics on the bottom of the ocean which can be redistributed long distances by ocean currents.

Once plastic enters the ocean, it mimics the appearance of natural food sources, leading seabirds and fish to consume it.

The plastic cup in the man's hands.
The worker pulled out a broken plastic cup from the fish's stomach. Source: Weibo

One of the biggest threats to marine life are microplastics in the ocean.

Dr Scott Wilson, the research director at Australian Microplastics Assessment Project (AUSMAP), said scientists around the world are working to better understand how microplastics are affecting oceans.

“The big issue is we don’t know what the impacts are,” he said.

“There's plastics in pretty much every species we were looking at now."

In 2019, a chef in Mexico was alarmed after he discovered several plastic items inside the stomach of a fish.

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