Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in the marine environment, and a growing body of evidence suggests that they pose a threat to marine ecosystems. The ingestion of MPs causes a false sense of satiation and decline in nutritional status. After animal ingestion, MPs fragment into nanoplastics, returning to the environment through egestion and thereby becoming vectors of contaminant exposure (organic and inorganic) into marine food webs. Crustacea is one invertebrate group frequently investigated in studies of MP ingestion. Through a critical review of the current literature, we provide an overview of techniques utilized in research on the contamination of MPs on members of the Crustacea subphylum and thereby identify methodological limitations and future research needs.
A new species of the genus Boca Lowry & Stoddart, 1997 is described from a mesophotic coral ecosystem off southwestern Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean Sea. The new species is easily recognized from the others in the genus mainly by the following characters: (1) maxilliped, inner plate with 2 long apical simple setae; palp, articles slender, subequal in length; (2) gnathopod 1, propodus slightly elongate, about 2.5 × longer than wide, and palm extremely acute, quite long and distinctly demarked by a robust seta at the palmar corner; (3) gnathopod 2, carpus slightly elongate, about 3.7 × longer than wide; (4) pereopod 5, basis widely expanded posteriorly, posterior margin rounded and smooth, and posteroventral lobe weakly developed. We also present a key to world species of Boca. This is the fifth species of Boca from world's oceans and the first record of the genus from Puerto Rico.
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