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Collection of marine organismsMarine invertebrates such as Corallium rubrum are ideal organisms to perform controlled experiments and to gather useful information on a variety of environmental conditions74. This species, whose diet is based on small zooplankton captured with the polyp tentacles, has been already used in long-term experiments74,75,76. Coral specimens were collected in March 2017 at ca. 35-m depth in the Marine Protected Area of Portofino (Punta del Faro, 44°17′41.02 N; 9°13′31.30 E) in the Ligurian Sea (North-Western Mediterranean Sea) by scuba divers (using TRIMIX blending).Experimental designAfter recovery, the coral specimens were brought to the laboratory and maintained in a tank (30 L) at in situ temperature (13 ± 0.8 °C) and subjected to the continuous flux of natural seawater filtered onto 0.7-µm pore-size membranes (micro-glass fibre paper, Munktell) by using two submersible pumps (Euronatale, 203 V, 50 Hz, 4 Watt).Sixty coral branches obtained from different colonies, with similar morphology, and a surface of ~2 cm2 each, were distributed among 12 experimental tanks, in order to have 5 coral branches per tank (12 L glass tanks, containing on average, 274 ± 26.4 coral polyps each). The corals were acclimatised for 20 days in a temperature-controlled room, and dim light conditions, before starting experiments. Each tank, filled with natural seawater, was equipped with a prefiltered (0.2 µm) channelled aeration system combined with motor-driven paddles in order to create convective currents, which allowed the resuspension of the microplastic mixture, thus ensuring as much as possible a homogeneous distribution of the polymers. This experimental system was designed and set up according to Sutherland et al.77. To assess the potential effects of increasing microplastic  microparticles L−1 (here defined as low, medium and high concentrations of microplastic particles). We also quantified the exact amount of particles actually interacting with the corals, by discounting the fractions loss due to experimental manipulations (see details in Supplementary Methods). According to the results reported in the Supplementary Results, the systems were responsible for the loss of ca. 40% of the microplastic particles, thus the corals in experimental systems were actually exposed to 60, 300 and 600 microplastic particles per litre (to which we referred the low, medium and high concentrations).The highest concentrations of microplastics (up to 600 microplastic particles per litre) can reflect future contamination on the basis of estimates obtained by numerical models9, whereas the low and medium concentrations have been selected to represent highly-contaminated marine habitats, including the areas where the corals were collected (Ligurian Sea)78,79. In particular, for the Ligurian Sea, we estimated an average value of 94 microplastic particles L−1, based on the concentrations of microplastic particles ( >200 µm) determined by Fossi et al.78,79, and the most cautionary correction factor (105) calculated by Brandon et al.10 for the unaccounted smaller fraction of microplastics (25–75% of the fragments falling approximately in the 20–100 µm dimensional class with median range: 59–116).Microplastic mixtures were also prepared considering the concentration and composition of dominant polymers in different coastal marine environments, especially in hot spots of microplastic contamination5,7,8.The microplastic mixture added to the tanks was composed of 76.6% polyethylene, 10.9% polypropylene, 7.3% polystyrene, 3.3% polyvinylchloride and 1.8% polyethylene terephthalate particles. These particles were obtained by milling plastic objects from everyday life (i.e., containers, bottles, cups, pipes) according to Paul-Pont et al.8 (Supplementary Table 5). Plastic milling was carried out under a laminar flow hood in chilled sterilized and 0.02 µm prefiltered milliQ water. All the tools used for handling plastics were pre-treated with 1% sodium hypochlorite in water and rinsed 10 times with sterilized and 0.02 µm prefiltered milliQ water, and then dried under laminar flow hood. Details on the preparation of microplastic mixtures are reported in the Supplementary Methods.The low, medium and high concentrations of microplastics were added in triplicate tanks (n = 3 for each concentration). Additional systems containing seawater and coral branches without microplastics (n = 3, here defined Controls), and seawater added with microplastics (at the highest concentration) without red corals (n = 3, here define CTRL MPs) were used as controls. Overall, the experimental setup comprised 15 tanks.The experiments for assessing the impact of microplastics on red corals started immediately after the microplastic mixture addition (time 0). During the experiment, seawater temperature (range: 13.10 ± 0.01–13.13 ± 0.05 °C), salinity (range: 38.35 ± 0.18–38.65 ± 0.18) and oxygen levels (7.10 ± 0.08–7.36 ± 0.2 mg L−1) were monitored daily in all tanks using a probe (YSI Professional Plus, USA) and corals were fed three times a week with 103 Artemia salina nauplii L−1.After ten days the condition of corals that were exposed to microplastics was deteriorating, so we collected one coral branch from each tank for molecular analyses (i.e., associated microbiome, gene expression and DNA damage). After 14 days, the experiment was stopped because the coral branches that were exposed to the medium and high microplastic particle concentrations were completely wrapped in mucus, with a large portion of damaged tissue and without polyp activity, therefore corals were defined dead (overall 12 branches, see ‘Results’ section for details). Coral branches in the controls showed no visible signs of necrosis or other macroscopic stress. The tissue remained intact, and the colour unchanged until the end of the experiment.Effects of microplastic ingestionCoral feeding activityTo assess the impact of microplastics on feeding activity of C. rubrum, analyses based on the use of Artemia salina were performed after 2 and 10 days from the start of the experiment (t0) in replicate systems (n = 3 for each treatment, n = 3 for the controls) according to standard international protocols80. The nauplii of Artemia salina were reared in the laboratory, incubating 0.5 g of cysts (Ocean Nutrition) in 1 L of seawater filtered onto 0.2-µm filter in a separatory funnel, 2 days before the analysis of feeding rate. At hatching, nauplii were counted and maintained in vials to obtain the concentration of 1000 nauplii L−1. To avoid stress, corals (one branch for each tank) were transferred underwater to beakers along with 1 L seawater of each tank. After addition of live A. salina nauplii (1000 nauplii L−1) to the 1 L beakers containing the coral branches and to the controls, three aliquots of 10 ml seawater were collected after ~30 s from the start of the experiment (t0) and after 2 and 4 h. The remaining nauplii present in each seawater aliquot were counted under a stereomicroscope at ×3.2 magnification (Zeiss Stami 2000). Mean ingestion rates (nauplii removed h−1) were determined by linear regression analysis.Accumulation of microplastics by C. rubrum
To investigate the accumulation of plastic polymers by C. rubrum polyps, the number of microplastic particles ingested by coral polyps was evaluated after 14 days of exposure to microplastic mixture, by dissolving polyps and skeleton of the corals (one for each tank at the concentration of 1000 microplastic particles L−1) using an acid/base digestion protocol36 with some modifications.To exclude biases on the estimate of the number of microplastic particles actually accumulated within the polyps, coral branches were accurately rinsed with milliQ water and checked under stereomicroscope (at ×50 magnification) for the potential presence of microplastic particles adherent to the coral tissue. Coral branches were then soaked in 5 ml of 4.5% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 24 h and dissolved in 5 ml of 37% HCl for 30 min. Particulate material was retained on a 0.2-μm filter in a vacuum filtration system, and microplastic particles were counted under a stereomicroscope at ×50 magnification. The chemical composition of the polymers ingested by corals was confirmed by FT-IR analyses (Perkin Elmer, software Packages Spectrum 5.3.1). To evaluate possible damage to plastic polymers due to the use of acid/base solutions, we exposed polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride and polyethylene terephthalate at the same volume and concentration of NaClO and HCl during digestion of the coral.Potential transfer of microplastics by zooplanktonWhile testing the exposure of the red corals to microplastics, we also determined the rate of microplastic ingestion by A. salina nauplii used to feed the red corals, in order to assess their role as potential vectors of microplastics. To do this, additional tanks (n = 3) were added with 0.2 µm prefiltered 12 L natural seawater, 1000 nauplii L−1 of A. salina and the same microplastic mixture used for the experiment on the red corals (at the highest concentration). Three other tanks were used as controls containing 0.2 µm prefiltered 12 L natural seawater and 1000 nauplii L−1 of A. salina.Microplastic ingestion by A. salina was determined after 2 and 10 days of experiment following the enzymatic digestion protocol previously developed81 with some modifications. Such a procedure degrades biological tissues without affecting shape, colour and composition of plastic fragments. Gut contents of 100 individuals of A. salina (n = 5) were assessed under a stereomicroscope (Leica MZ125) and light microscope (Zeiss Axiovert 200) and photographed with a Zeiss Axiocam digital camera. Afterwards, nauplii were processed immediately according to the modified enzymatic digestion protocol. Nauplii were dried in an oven for 3 h at 60 °C, transferred to glass jars containing a buffer homogenizing solution (400 mM Tris-HCl pH 8, 60 mM EDTA pH 8, 5 M NaCl, SDS 1%) incubated at 50 °C for 15 min and exposed to Proteinase K (1 mg ml−1). Then, samples were dried for 2 h at 50 °C, homogenized and re-incubated at 60 °C for 20 min and sonicated on ice (1–2 min) three times. After digestion, the microplastic-containing suspensions were placed in Utermöhl chambers and the microplastics were examined at the inverted light microscope (Leica DMI3000-Bat ×200 magnification) and counted. Microplastics obtained from nauplii digested after 10 days of incubation were also measured and categorized by colours and shape to evaluate the numbers and the size spectra of microplastics ingested by A. salina during the experiment.Physical impact on coral coenenchymaScanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysesTo investigate the physical damage of the microplastic mixture on the coral tissues, samples (one branch from each tank including the control) were collected before the start of the experiment (t0), after 7 days and at the end of the experiment and prepared for SEM analyses according to standard protocols82 with some modifications. Coral branches were stored in 0.7 µm prefiltered seawater with 4% buffered formalin. After 24 h, samples were washed with 0.7 µm prefiltered seawater and dehydrated for 3 h in 20% ethanol. After 3 h they were washed in the same way and dehydrated in ethanol 50%. After 3 h, samples were stored in 70% ethanol. Samples were stored at +4 °C. We dehydrated samples using different gradients of ethanol solutions (70–80%, 80–90%, 90–95%, 95–99% in 2 days)82. Then, samples were dried using HMDS (Hexamethyldisilazane, Aldrich 440191)83. Dried samples were mounted on aluminium stubs using Leit-C glue (conductive carbon cement, Neubauer Chemikalien) and sputter-coated with gold. Samples were examined with a Scanning Electron Microscope (Zeiss SUPRA 40). In addition, the tissue damage percentage was assessed on SEM micrographs at ×200 of magnification by using PhotoQuad v1.4 software84. Such a software for advanced image processing of 2D photographic quadrat samples, dedicated to ecological applications, was used for the analysis of three randomly selected areas from the apex to the base of each coral rotating it on three sides (n = 9). Additional analyses through random SEM observations (n = 20) at 3.00KX to 17.00KX of magnification were carried out to determine prokaryotic cell abundances around lesions of corals (n = 3) exposed to high concentrations of microplastic particles. Data were standardised to the coral surface analysed.Mucus release and trapped microplastics and prokaryotic cellsTo evaluate the first symptoms of coral stress, a photographic report was conducted daily. The abundance of microplastic particles trapped in coral mucus was estimated using an enzymatic digestion protocol81 with some modifications. Mucus produced by corals exposed to higher microplastics concentrations was dried in oven at 60 °C for 12 h. After 12 h, five ml of homogenizing solution was added to the samples and incubated at 50 °C for 15 min. Proteinase K (1 mg mL−1) was added to the samples, which subsequently were incubated at 50 °C for 2 h. Then, samples were homogenized and incubated again at 60 °C for 20 min, after that samples were sonicated three times (three 1-min treatments using a Branson Sonifier 2200; 60 W). After digestion, microplastics-containing suspension was filtered on 0.2-μm filters in a vacuum filtration system (Whatman, Nuclepore). Filters were analysed at stereomicroscope at ×50 magnification (Zeiss Stemi 2000).Stress signals at the molecular levelRNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and gene expression level by qPCRTo assess potential changes in the gene expression pattern of C. rubrum due to microplastics, total RNA was extracted from ca. 20 mg of tissue (wet weight) from one coral branch randomly collected from each treatment (n = 3) and control (n = 3) after 10 days of experiment by using Quick-RNA™ MiniPrep (Zymo Research, Freiburg, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Total RNA was also extracted from additional samples of coral branches collected randomly at the beginning of the experiment. Once scraped by surgical disposable scalpels (Braun), coral tissues were placed in new 2 ml sterile tubes and washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS 1×). Samples were centrifuged at 1800 rpm for 10 min in an Eppendorf® 5810r refrigerated centrifuge using a swing-out rotor at 4 °C and, after removing the supernatant, were homogenized for 5 min with a RNase-free sterile glass stick in RNA lysis buffer. Contaminating DNA was degraded by treating each sample with DNase dissolved in RNase-free water included in the kit. For each sample, 250 ng of total RNA extracted was retrotranscribed with an iScript™ cDNA Synthesis kit (Bio-Rad, Milan, Italy), following the manufacturer’s instructions. The reaction was performed on the Veriti™ 96-Well Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystem, Monza, Italy). To evaluate the efficiency of cDNA synthesis, a PCR was performed with primers of the reference gene, cytochrome oxidase I (COI, Supplementary Table 6). The reaction was carried out using MyTaq™ HS DNA Polymerase (Bioline, Luckenwalde, Germany) on the Veriti™ 96-Well Thermal Cycler (Applied Biosystem, Monza, Italy). The PCR programme consisted of a denaturation step at 95 °C for 1 min, 35 cycles at 95 °C for 45 s, 60 °C for 45 s, and 72 °C for 45 s and a final extension step at 72 °C for 10 min.The expression levels of the six genes of hsp70, hsp60, MnSOD, mtMutS, EF1 and cytb, involved in a broad range of functional responses, such as stress, detoxification processes, and DNA repair, were followed by real-time qPCR to identify potential stress of corals exposed to microplastics61. For the cytb, target-specific primer pairs were designed with the Primer 3 software (http://primer3.ut.ee85) using nucleotide sequences retrieved from the GenBank database for C. rubrum as template (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/; Supplementary Table 6). SensiFAST™ SYBR® & Fluorescein mix (Bioline, Luckenwalde, Germany) were used for measuring the levels of mRNAs on CFX Connect™ Real-Time PCR detection system (Biorad, Milan, Italy). Fluorescence was measured using CFX Manager™ software (Biorad, Milan, Italy). All genes tested by qPCR in this study were amplified with primers purchased from Life Technologies/Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milan, Italy). The fold change in target gene mRNA expression of corals exposed to microplastics compared with the control was calculated using the comparative CT method using the 2−ΔΔCt equation86. COI was used as reference gene for normalising the gene expression analyses.DNA oxidative damageFor evaluating oxidative DNA damage potentially due to microplastic exposure on C. rubrum, the content of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was analysed. DNA was extracted from 20 mg (wet weight) of tissue randomly collected from one coral branch for each treatment (n = 3) and control (n = 3) after 10 days of experiment using DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kits (Qiagen, Valencia, CA) and following the manufacturer’s protocol. Finally, samples were kept at −20 °C before subsequent analyses. Nucleic acids extracted (2 μg) were transferred into new 2-ml tubes and incubated for 5 min at 95 °C, then rapidly chilled on ice. Samples were digested to nucleosides by incubating the denatured DNA in sodium acetate 20 mM, pH 5.2 with 2 μl of nuclease P1 (6 U/μl; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) for 2 h at 37 °C. Each sample was then incubated with 5 μl alkaline phosphatase (1 U/μl; Roche, Mannheim, Germany) in Tris-HCl 100 mM, pH 7.5 for 1 h at 37 °C. The reaction mixtures were then centrifuged for 5 min at 6000 × g and the supernatants tested for DNA oxidation with an OxiSelect™ Oxidative DNA Damage ELISA Kit (8-OHdG Quantitation; Cell Biolabs, CA, USA). As positive control, Escherichia coli genomic DNA (2 μg) was incubated in a final concentration of 50 and 100 mM H2O2 overnight at 37 °C, and subsequently tested.Prokaryotic abundance in coral mucus and surrounding seawaterTo highlight possible effects in terms of prokaryotic contamination associated with the exposure of the corals to microplastics, we determined prokaryotic abundances in the mucus released by C. rubrum and the surrounding seawater.Prokaryotic abundances in the coral mucus collected from each tank (except for the control where coral mucus was not released) after 14 days of the experiment, were analysed by epifluorescence microscopy. The extraction of prokaryotic cells from the mucus (ca. 1 mL for each tank) was performed using pyrophosphate (final concentration, 5 mM) and ultrasound treatment (three 1-min treatments using a Branson Sonifier 2200; 60 W)87. Then, samples were diluted from 50- to 100-fold with sterile water filtered onto 0.2-μm pore-size filters (Anodisc filters; black-stained polycarbonate). The filters were stained using SYBR Green I (10,000× in anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide, Molecular Probes-Invitrogen) diluted 1:20 in prefiltered TE buffer (pH 7.5) and incubated in the dark for 20 min; a drop (20 µl) of antifade solution (composed of 50% 6.7 mmol L−1 phosphate buffer at pH 7.8 and 50% glycerol with the addition of 0.5% ascorbic acid) was laid both on a glass slide and on the filter mounted on it. Prokaryotic counts were performed under epifluorescence microscopy (magnification, ×1000; Zeiss filter set #09, 488009-9901-000, excitation BP 450–490 nm, beam splitter FT 515, emission LP 520), by examining at least 20 fields per slide and counting at least 400 cells per filter.For the determination of prokaryote abundance in seawater surrounding corals, three replicates of 10 ml of seawater were collected from each tank. Total prokaryotic abundance was determined according to Danovaro87. Samples were filtered onto 0.2-μm pore-size filters (Anodisc black-stained polycarbonate filters, Whatman) into a funnel with vacuum pressure no greater than 20 kPa (or 150 mmHg) to avoid cell damage. When the sample had passed through, filters were stained with 20 µl of SYBR Green I (10,000× in anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide, Molecular Probes-Invitrogen) diluted 1:20 in prefiltered TE buffer (pH 7.5) and incubated in the dark for 20 min. Then, to remove the excess stain, filters were washed three times using 3 ml of Milli-Q water; a drop (20 µl) of antifading solution (composed of 50% 6.7 mmol L−1 phosphate buffer at pH 7.8 and 50% glycerol with the addition of 0.5% ascorbic acid) was laid both on a glass slide and on the filter mounted on it. Prokaryotic counts were carried out as described above.Microbiome of corals exposed to microplasticsThe coral microbiome was analysed immediately before the start of the experiment (before the addition of microplastics) and after 10 days of the experiment, both in replicated coral branches exposed to microplastics and in unexposed corals (Control t10). For the analysis of the microbiome, ca. 20 mg of tissue (wet weight) from one coral branch randomly collected from two tanks of each treatment and control was scraped from the skeleton by using surgical disposable scalpels (Braun) and DNA extraction was performed using the QIAGEN DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit. Briefly, samples were digested with proteinase K at 56 °C overnight or until the tissue was completely lysed, then samples were processed following the manufacturer’s protocol. Finally, samples were held at −20 °C before PCR amplification and sequencing. The molecular size of the DNA extracts was analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis (1%) and the amount and purity of DNA were determined by Nanodrop spectrophotometer (ND-1000). For PCR amplification of the 16S V3 region, the Bacteria-specific primer pair 805R/341F was chosen with Illumina-specific adapters and barcodes. Sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq platform by LGC Genomics GmbH (Berlin, Germany).Raw sequencing paired-end reads were first joined using the bbmerge tool from the BBMap suite88 in a two-step process: reads that did not merge in a first step were quality-trimmed to remove low-quality bases (Q  More

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Confirmation of species, using DNA analysisBecause the DNA of our sphere samples matches that of adult squid identified as I. coindetii from Norwegian waters we infer that the spheres are from I. coindetii. Much has been written about taxonomic difficulties in Illex. The COI tree comprises four clades of Illex, one of which clearly pertains to Illex argentinus (Castellanos, 1960). There are three other described species: Illex coindetii, Illex illecebrosus (Lesueur, 1821), and I. oxygonius Roper, Lu & Mangold, 1969. We labelled our clades A, B, and C, to indicate their correspondence with the findings of Carlini et al.32, and assume that each pertains to one of the described species of Illex. Carlini was unable to match species to clades, but Clade A not only contains the adults identified in this project as I. coindetii, but also contains specimens from the Mediterranean (DQ373941). Since I. coindetii is the only species of Illex known from the Mediterranean, this is further confirmation of the identity of Clade A, and thus our spheres, as Illex coindetii.Using citizen science from roughly 200 divers secured observations of 90 spheres, including rare tissue samples of four of them, thus enabling a molecular approach towards the first confirmation of egg masses in situ as those of the broadtail shortfin squid, Illex coindetii. Illex coindetii was named in honour of Dr. Coindet from Geneva in 185137. It took 180 years from the description of the adult to identification of its egg mass in the wild. To our knowledge no whole egg mass of Illex spp. has previously been reported from the wild, except by Adolf Naef, who reported on live ommastrephid embryos and paralarvae from Naples, Italy2. The embryos were pulled out of a floating spawn or floating egg mass, or as he describes «Fig. 1 und 2 sind aus einem flottierenden Laich gezogene Larven von Ommatostrephiden». These illustrations were later identified as Illex coindetii by Boletzky et al.26, studying egg development of I. coindetii in the laboratory, claiming «The general characteristics of the embryonic developement observed by us match the figures given by Naef (1923 : plts 9–12) of an unidentified egg mass of a member of the Ommastrephidae (Naef 1921)». However, no drawing of the «laich» was provided.Challenges collecting in situ materialHuge gelatinous spheres from squid are difficult to study in situ. They are rarely reported, and hard to sample. We have collected 90 sphere observations from ~ 35 years back (~ 1985 to 2019), from an area stretching from the Mediterranean Sea north to the Norwegian Sea, which gives a good illustration on sphere findings of ~ 2.6 sphere observations per year. In addition, the spheres most likely have a short-life span. Life span of spheres spawned and reared in aquaria (between 40 and 120 cm in diameter) of Todarodes pacificus (Steenstrup, 1880) is 5–7 days, with the smallest disintegrating first38.Sphere shape and sizeGelatinous egg masses of cephalopods vary in size and form among species. Some egg masses are spherical, but there are also examples of oblong structures39,40,41. Sphere size may be up to 4 m in diameter1,5,42. Ringvold and Taite (op. cit.) collected information on a total of 27 spheres recorded in European waters varying from 0.3 to 2 m in diameter, as also for the additional spheres from this study. The four spheres in our study, confirmed to belong to I. coindetii, measured between 0.5 and 1 m in diameter.Egg mass of another ommastrephid squid, Todarodes sagittatus, has yet to be found in situ. The species is known to be larger than Illex species, and egg mass is also most probably larger. The largest spheres recorded in our study measured up to 2 m in diameter, but none of these were sampled for molecular analysis, nor were pictures taken. It is uncertain whether they could belong to other species e.g., Todaropsis eblanae (Ball, 1841), Todarodes sagittatus or Ommastrephes sp..Dark streak through coreAlmost 60% of the spheres had a dark streak through the center. This feature might be ink, one important characteristic of cephalopods, produced by most cephalopod orders. The ink sac with its ink glands produces black ink containing melanin43. During fertilization, sperm are released—as well as possibly some ink. Spheres with or without ink may be a result of spheres beeing at different maturity stages1, where spheres with ink are freshly spawned. After a while, when embryos starts developing, the whole sphere, including the streak, will start to disintegrate.Some of us speculate that one function of the streak through the center might serve as visual mimics e.g. of a large fish in order to scare off predators. Other possible functions discussed are also if the streak/structure can be caused by a sphere strengthening structure which is denser or having a higher optical density than the sourrounding structure. A disadvantage with the streak is that it might reveal the whole transparent sphere in the water, visible to e.g. scuba divers.Function of the gelatinous matrixObservations in captivity3,44 showed that species within the genus Illex produce gelatinous egg masses while swimming in open water. Gel functions as a buoyancy mechanism that prevents eggs from sinking, and complete density equilibration requires many days under most conditions44. Such a buoyancy mechanism keeps pelagically spawned eggs of Illex in areas where temperatures are most optimal for embryonic development. Optimal environmental conditions will likely have a positive effect on survival of both hatchlings and paralarvae. Despite consistency in where spawning areas are found, interannual variability has been recorded in the main recruitment areas, which could be related to e.g. mesoscale eddies and/or affecting post-hatching dispersal45.Huge spheres are formed of mucus produced by the nidamental glands, situated inside the mantle cavity of the female46,47. When fully developed, hatchlings emit an enzyme which starts to dissolve the mucus. Eggs and embryos from our four spheres were covered in sticky gelatinous mass, except for a few specimens (from Arendal, collected 7 August, and Søgne) laying in the petri dish outside the sticky gel, in the surrounding sea water following the tissue sample, and might have been old enough to start producing such enzymes.When at hatching, Illex coindetii eggs are about 2 mm long26,48, in line with other ommastrephids12. The longest of our embryos (from Arendal, collected 7 August) measured ~ 2 mm, a developed embryo with long proboscis, mantle about ½ of total body length, as well as chromatophores, large eyes and funnel visible (Fig. 3). It could possibly be a hatchling.Abiotic factors and locationsThe success and duration of embryonic development is related to water temperature. All observations available to date indicate that successful embryonic development for I. coindetii takes ca. 10–14 days at 15 °C; this temperature corresponds to the median temperature value reported for Mediterranean Sea midwater48. Boletzky et al.26 reports on a temperature minimum above 10 °C. Spheres in the Mediterranean were observed in temperatures ranging between 14 and 24 °C. Watermass temperature for one sphere with recently fertilized eggs (Ålesund sample, embryos stage ~ 3) from Norway was 8 °C. It was also observed north of the existing known distribution range for I. coindetii, in the Norwegian Sea, at 43 m depth. Most spheres from Norway were observed from July and August, in water mass 10–14 °C, with maximum temperature at 18 °C.It is unknown whether some of the observed spheres had drifted to water layers unsuitable for the development of the eggs, and, eventually, would have died due to unfavourable abiotic conditions (e.g. transport outside the optimal temperature- or depth range for that particular species), but most likely they were in an area where they would survive. Higher occurrence of sphere sightings from 2017 to 2019, could be a combination of higher abundance of these squid in the area as well as increased knowledge regarding our Citizen Science Sphere Project, and thereby increased reports of observations.Illex coindetii may be considered as an intermittent spawner with a spawning season extending throughout the year, reaching a peak in July–August18.Our sphere observations from all areas were made from March to October: The earliest sphere which can be documented (to month) in the North Sea to date was observed 27 May (2001), and the last sphere was reported on 20 October (2019), coinciding with a study on adult Illex condetii from the North Sea where the spawning season has been suggested to be between spring and autumn49. However, our data show a peak of sphere observations from July to September (all areas combined), from July to August in Norway and from August to September in the Mediterranean Sea. The two recordings from Galicia in Spain, and Seiano in Italy, were the earliest recordings of the year, observed 24 March (in 2017 and 2019, respectively). For all areas combined, no observations during wintertime (November to February) have been recorded.Embryonic development and consistencies of spheresWe collected tissue mass of four different spheres of I. coindetii, and embryos in each sphere were at different developmental stages, ~ 3 to 30, according to Sakai et al.36 based on I. argentinus. The sphere walls of the four spheres were also of different consistencies (Table 2); from Ålesund sphere with recently fertilized eggs and firm, transparent sphere wall to Søgne and Arendal spheres (the latter collected 7 August) with developed embryos and disintegrating sphere walls. The remains of the Arendal sphere was hanging as a long «scarf» in the water. Experienced divers, who previously had seen a few spherical spheres, recognized this disintegrating sphere.Function of spheresOmmastrephidae fecundity is extremely high, and a single sphere may contain thousands to several hundred thousands of eggs41,50,51,52. The function of the spheres is protection and transport of the offspring by sea currents for paralarval dispersal. Inside these gelatinous structures, the eggs and newly hatched paralarvae are protected from predation by e.g. fish, parasite infection and infestation by crustaceans and protozoans during a first relative short period of their lives5,51. Bottom trawlers operate in spawning areas of squids, exposing them to a risk of egg loss, as also for our fisherman at Askøy, Norway, who caught a sphere in his trawl1,5.Scientific cruises and fisheryThe Institute for Marine Research in Norway started identification of cephalopods on their regular scientific cruises in 2013, but no Illex coindetii was recorded that year. However, data show increasing catches from 2014 to 2019 (unpublished). No spheres are reported from Norway in 2013, but between 1995 to 2010, and from 2015 to 2019, observations were made. Most observations are between 2017 and 2019, indicating more frequent squid visits/spawnings. This coincides with more frequent sphere observations from 2017 to 2019.The broadtail shortfin squid, Illex coindetii, is probably the most widespread species found on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the Mediterranean Sea12. In the NE Atlantic, it has been reported from Oslofjorden, Norway (59°N);53 and the Firth of Forth, east Scotland54, southwards along the European and African coasts to Namibia, including Hollam’s Bird Island (24°S) and Cape Frio (18°S)55. For example, I. coindetii is periodically very abundant in coastal waters of the eastern North Atlantic off Scotland, Ireland and Spain, where it supports opportunistic fisheries. However, the oceanographic and biological factors that drive this phenomenon, are still unknown12.Illex coindetii is widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea11, where it is caught commercially mostly by Italian trawlers, usually as a by-catch, but also by recreational fishing, by means of squid jigging. Annual Italian landings during the last five years have varied between two and three thousand tonnes, but with historical landings reaching numbers of more than eight thousand tonnes during the 1980s and 1990s (FAO 2019)15.In the North Sea, studies show that inshore squids (Alloteuthis subulata (Lamarck, 1798) and Loligo forbesii Steenstrup, 1856) are more abundant than short-finned squid (Illex coindetii, Todaropsis eblanae and Todarodes sagittatus), and I. coindetii is among the rarest ommastrephid species caught49,56. However, two recent studies (1) on summer spawning stock of Illex coindetii in the North Sea57 and (2) I. coindetii recorded from the brackish Baltic Sea58 suggest more frequent visits to this area. Reports on Illex coindetii from Norwegian waters are scarce, but it has been reported from Oslofjorden53, and recently as by-catch from Stavanger area, and by divers from Oslofjorden and Bergen. More

Most problematic fishing methods based on ALDFG relative risksThis study presents the first quantitative assessment of gear-specific relative risks from ALDFG. Findings accounted for the: (a) derelict gear leakage rate; (b) fishing gear quantity indicators of catch and area of fishing grounds; and (c) adverse consequences from ALDFG. Maximum global conservation gains can be achieved through focusing ALDFG mitigation efforts on the fishing gears with the highest overall relative risk. Set and fixed gillnets and trammel nets, drift gillnets, gears using drifting and anchored FADs (tuna purse seines and pole-and-lines), and bottom trawls were the five most problematic gears on a global scale. This was followed by traps (fyke nets, pots, barriers, fences, weirs, corrals and pound nets).The overall RR score indicates a fishing gear’s relative degree of total adverse effects from ALDFG, accounting for the quantity of ALDFG produced by that gear (estimated from the ALDFG leakage rate and indices of fishing gear quantity of catch and area of fishing grounds), and the adverse consequences that result from ALDFG from that gear type relative to other gears. Globally, gillnets have the highest risks from ALDFG, while hand dredges and harpoons were least problematic.The focus of local management interventions to address problematic derelict fishing gear will be dictated by the specific context. Locally, adopting ALDFG controls following a sequential mitigation hierarchy and implementing effective monitoring, surveillance and enforcement systems are needed to curb derelict gear from these most problematic fisheries. This includes accounting for which fishing gears are predominant and the existing fisheries management framework. For example, a site may have pot and tuna purse seine anchored FAD fisheries. The purse seine fishery has a higher relative risk globally. However, a fisheries management system may have effective ALDFG preventive methods in place for this fishery, such as a high rate of detection and recovery of anchored FADs when they break from moorings, and minimization methods, such as prescribing the use of only non-entangling and biodegradable FAD designs to minimize adverse effects from derelict FADs35, 36. But there may be minimal measures in place to monitor and manage ALDFG from pots. In this hypothetical example, it would be a higher priority locally to improve ALDFG management for the pot fishery.Priority data quality improvementsThere are several priorities for data quality improvement to increase the certainty of future assessments. Given substantial deficits both in estimates of gear-specific quantity/effort and ALDFG rates, it is not yet possible to produce a robust contemporary estimate to replace the ca. five decades-old crude estimate of the magnitude of the annual quantity of leaked ALDFG4, 30. More robust estimates of ALDFG rates are needed for all gear types. Gear-specific estimates have low certainty due to small numbers of studies and sample sizes. Many compiled records estimate only one ALDFG component, typically only loss rates, and therefore may substantially underestimate total ALDFG rates. Most records are dated and may not accurately characterize contemporary rates. There is geographical sampling bias with estimates being primarily derived from the northern hemisphere. Furthermore, many estimates were derived from expert surveys (Supplementary Material Table S1), which have a higher risk of error and bias than approaches higher on the evidence hierarchy37. Substantially more primary studies with robust designs are needed.An expanded meta-analysis on gear-specific ALDFG rates is an additional priority, once sufficient sample sizes of robust studies accumulate. The statistical modeling approach used by Richardson et al.34 could be readily improved by using (1) a random-effects instead of a fixed effects structure to account for study-specific heterogeneity, and (2) a more appropriate model likelihood, such as zero-inflated Beta likelihood, to account for the zero values in the dataset38. Due to larger sample sizes and the number of independent studies, meta-analyses can produce estimates with increased accuracy, with increased statistical power to detect real effects. By synthesizing estimates from an assortment of independent, small and context-specific studies, pooled estimates from random-effects meta-analyses are generalizable and therefore relevant over diverse settings39. The strength of conclusions of hypotheses based on a single study can vary. This is because a single study can be context-specific, where true results may be affected by conditions specific to that single study, such as the species involved and environmental conditions, that cause the results from the single study to not be applicable under different conditions. A single study may also fail to find a meaningful result due to small sample sizes and low power. However, robust synthesis research, including meta-analysis, is more precise and powerful once a sufficient number of similar studies have accumulated, and therefore investing in more primary ALDFG studies is a high priority.For some gear types and fisheries, estimated ALDFG rates may overestimate adverse effects when gear that is abandoned, lost or even discarded does not become derelict because another fishing vessel continues to use the gear. For example, gear that is lost by theft remains in use. Macfadyen et al.4 explained that theft was likely a minor contribution to ALDFG, occurring, for instance, in inshore fishing grounds where static commercial fishing gear and recreational marine activities conflict. However, fishing gear theft may be prevalent in some developing country fisheries (e.g., Cambodian crab traps40). And, there is one gear type where theft has become a globally prevalent, routine and largely accepted practice: Tuna purse seine vessels routinely exchange satellite buoys attached to drifting FADs that they encounter at sea. The stolen FAD, lost by the previous vessel that had been tracking its position, remains in-use and not derelict, although it may eventually become derelict41, 42. Furthermore, because ALDFG leakage rates may be highest in illegal and unregulated fisheries4, if only legal fisheries are sampled, then this may produce underestimates. Thus, accounting for theft and illegal and unregulated fishing would increase the certainty of estimates of ALDFG leakage rates for some fishing gear types.The 20% ALDFG global production rate value used for anchored FADs by pole-and-line fisheries was likely an underestimate. We relied on a single value from the contemporary Maldives pole-and-line fishery’s government-owned and -managed network of anchored FADs. This fishery underwent a substantial reduction in anchored FAD loss rate, from 82 to 20%, by improving designs and a government incentive program that pays fishers to retrieve FADs when they break from their moorings35, 43. For comparison, describing Indonesia’s pole-and-line fishery’s anchored FADs, Widodo et al.44 stated: “Inaccuracy of number and position of FADs in the fishing ground are the outstanding issue facing by fisheries manager…This was largely the result of the current lack of effective systems of FAD registration and monitoring, and also because of the desire of fishing companies and vessel skippers to keep FADs position information confidential. [sic]”.Proctor et al.45, who estimated that between 5000 and 10,000 anchored FADs are used in Indonesian tuna fisheries, also reported a lack of accurate estimates of the numbers and locations of anchored FADs due to ineffective implementation of the government registration system and to high loss rates, including from storms, strong currents, vandalism, vessel collisions and wear and degradation of the FADs. Using the estimated rates of (1) Shainee and Leira43 that 82% of anchored FADs were lost per year prior to the Maldivian government’s incentives program, which might accurately characterize the Indonesian and other anchored FAD networks used by pole-and-line fisheries, and (2) the 20% loss rate value from Adam et al.35, the posterior mean = 0.506 (95% HDI: 0.15–0.84). Thus, 51% might have been a more appropriate estimate for a global ALDFG production rate for pole-and-line anchored FADs. The Maldivian and Indonesian pole-and-line fisheries, which combined supply over half of global pole-and-line catch, rely heavily on anchored FADs, as do several other smaller pole-and-line fisheries (e.g., Solomon Islands, segments of the Japanese pole-and-line fleet)35, 45,46,47,48.Units for ALDFG rates are highly variable. Records using different rates cannot be pooled for synthesis research29, 34. For example, some records reported rates of the percent of number of panels (sheets) or fleets (strings) of gillnets that were lost, while others reported the percent of the length or area of gillnets that were lost29. Similarly, for longline gear, some studies reported the percent of the length of the mainline, while others reported the percent of the number of branchlines/snoods that were lost34. Employment of agreed harmonized units for ALDFG rates are needed.Future assessments could use a ratio of ALDFG risk-to-seafood production to assess gear-specific relative risks locally and globally, similar to assessments of vulnerable fisheries bycatch by using bycatch-to-target catch ratios49. This would enable the assessment of risk from ALDFG to be balanced against meeting objectives of food security and nutritional health.Relationship between alternative indices with the quantity of fishing gearWe used gear-specific annual catch and area of fishing grounds as indicators of the relative global amount of each gear that is used annually as two terms in the model to assess gear-specific relative risks from ALDFG. However, the assumption of a linear relationship between these indices and gear quantity is questionable for similar reasons that have been raised with the relationship between various indices of effort (number of fishing hours, number of vessels, engine power, vessel length, gross tonnage, gear size, hold capacity, as well as kWh) and catch. For example, the ratio of catch from one set by an anchoveta purse seiner to the volume or weight of the gear is likely substantially different than for pots or driftnets. Not only is the relationship between catch and amount of gear variable by gear type and target species, there is also high variability within gear types—by fishery and within fisheries—due to the broad range of factors that significantly explain fishing efficiency per unit of nominal effort50, 51. Similarly, the relationship between catch weight and number of fishing operations varies substantially across gear types. For example, an industrial tropical tuna purse seine vessel might have a total catch of about 37 t per set on a drifting FAD27 while a tuna pole-and-line vessel catches about 1 t per fishing day52.Similarly, the relationship between the area of fishing grounds and amount of gear may vary substantially between gear types. A small number of vessels using a relatively small magnitude of active, mobile gear may have a much larger area of fishing grounds than a large number of vessels and shore-based fishers using a large amount of passive and static gears. For example, about 686 large-scale tuna purse seine vessels fish across the tropics53, while gillnets, which may be the most globally prevalent gear type, are used predominantly within 20 nm (37 km) of shore, most intensively in southeast Asia and the northwest Pacific54.Fishing effort has also been estimated using engine power as well as by using energy expended, such as in kilowatt-hours (kWh), the product of the fishing time and engine power of a fishing vessel, including non-motorized vessels55,56,57. We did not use these metrics for effort because the correlation between rate of production of ALDFG and vessel engine power or kWh, including of non-motorized vessels (1.70 million of the estimated global 4.56 million fishing vessels21), has not been explored. In general, vessel power and power per unit of fishing period largely distinguishes between mobile and passive gears, where the former (e.g., trawls, dredges), use substantially more vessel power per weight of catch than passive gears (traps, gillnets). Also, estimates using these fishing effort metrics used a small number of aggregated gear categories and extrapolated estimates primarily from sampled developed world fisheries (however, see56). These effort indices would also prevent inclusion of shore-based fishing methods.There have been recent gear specific estimates of effort, in units of time spent fishing and the estimated energy expended (fishing power * fishing time), using Automated Identification Systems (AIS) data, which are available for industrial fishing vessels, primarily using longlines, trawls and pelagic purse seines6, 58. AIS data provide coverage of the majority of large fishing vessels ≥ 24 m in overall length58. However, this accounts for only about 2% of the number of global fishing vessels (of an estimated 4.56 million global fishing vessels, about 67,800 are ≥ 24 m in length21).ALDFG monitoring, management and performance assessmentsA sequential mitigation hierarchy of avoidance, minimization, remediation and offsets can be applied to manage ALDFG29, 59. Referring to the three components of relative risk assessed by this study, avoidance and minimization of risks from ALDFG is achieved by reducing the ALDFG leakage rate, fishing effort, and/or adverse consequences from derelict gear. Remedial methods reduce adverse effects, such as reducing ghost fishing by reducing the duration that ALDFG remains in the marine environment1, 29, 60. In general, preventative methods are more cost effective than remedial methods—it is less expensive to prevent gear abandonment, loss and discarding than it is, for example, to detect and then disable or remove derelict gear61. Methods to prevent ALDFG include, for instance, spatially and temporally separating passive and mobile fishing gears, having bottom trawlers avoid features that could snag the net such as by using high-resolution seabed maps, tracking the real-time position of unattended fishing gears using various electronic technologies, and using gear marking to identify the owner and increase the visibility of passive gears. Furthermore, because some remedial methods, such as using less durable materials for fishing gear components, can reduce economic viability and practicality, preventative methods and remediation through quick recovery of ALDFG may be more effective as well as elicit broader stakeholder support29, 62.To assess the performance of global ALDFG management interventions against this study’s quantitative benchmark, substantial deficits in monitoring and surveillance of fisheries’ waste management practices must first be addressed1. Of 68 fisheries that catch marine resources managed by regional fisheries management organizations, 47 lack any observer coverage, half do not collect monitoring data on ALDFG, and surveillance and enforcement systems are rudimentary or nonexistent in many fisheries1, 63.Findings from this quantitative, global assessment of ALDFG risks guide the allocation of resources to achieve the largest improvements from preventing and remediating derelict gear from the world’s 4.6 million fishing vessels. With improved data quality and governance frameworks for fishing vessel waste management, including ALDFG, we can expect reductions in ecological and socioeconomic risks from derelict gear. More