Microplastic ingestion by a herring Opisthonema sp. in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica

Abstract

Despite there is a growing interest in studying the presence and effects of microplastics (MP) in fishes and other aquatic species, knowledge is still limited in tropical areas. In this study, we examined the presence of MP in the gastrointestinal content of 30 filter feeders of thread herring, Opisthonema complex (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae) from the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We detected the presence of MP in 100% of the individuals with an average of 36.7 pieces per fish, of which 79.5% were fibers and 20.5% particles. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Costa Rica that demonstrates the presence of MP in planktivorous fishes. The effects of microplastics ingestion by O. libertate and its transit through aquatic food webs should be studied in greater detail, with greater number of sampling points at different times of the year. However, our work confirms that contamination by microplastics is having direct effects on the marine life of Costa Rica.

Contamination from microplastics and other anthropogenic particles in the digestive tracts of the commercial species Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardina pilchardus

“…Firstly, there are methodological differences in the extraction of the APs. Thus, protocols that include organic digestion of the DT contents (e.g., Bermúdez-Guzmán et al, 2020;Filgueiras et al, 2020) often achieve higher rates of AP extraction than those that use direct inspection techniques (e.g., Ory et al, 2018;Pennino et al, 2020). Another major methodological difference is to report all APs, even if they are not verified MPs.…”

“…Currently, the quantities of MPs that aquatic organisms may contain remain unknown, especially in many species of high commercial interest for human consumption. For this reason, the engraulids and clupeids of the order Clupeiformes, whose capture exceeded 19 million tons in 2018 (FAO, 2020), are being studied worldwide (Bermúdez-Guzmán et al, 2020;Ory et al, 2018;Tanaka and Takada, 2016). So far, in the Gulf of Cádiz, the commercial species Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardina pilchardus have not been assessed, with the exception of the Portuguese waters of the Gulf of Cádiz (Lopes et al, 2020).…”

“…Despite the variety of methods available for the assessment of anthropogenic particles (APs) ingested by marine organisms (Lusher et al, 2020), the most common methodologies consider two different approaches: firstly, chemical digestion of the sample (Cole et al, 2014;Li et al, 2015;Lusher et al, 2020;Thiele et al, 2019;Van Cauwenberghe and Janssen, 2014), and secondly, optical, and direct inspection for AP identification (e.g., Pennino et al, 2020). In this regard, studies that applied the first approach, sample digestion procedures (e.g., with potassium hydroxide (KOH) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )) to isolate APs were performed only on the internal content of the stomach or digestive tract (DT) (Bermúdez-Guzmán et al, 2020;Cole et al, 2014;Dehaut et al, 2016). There are only a few studies that have analysed the entire DT (from the oesophagus to the anus) and accessory organs, such as the liver, where all organic tissues are included in the chemical digestion (Collard et al, 2017;McIlwraith et al, 2021).…”

La problemática de los micro y nanoplásticos en las costas americanas del Océano Pacífico

“…La mayoría de los MP y NP en los océanos provienen de los textiles sintéticos, neumáticos y el polvo de las ciudades (figura 6); y las actividades humanas que más generan MP y NP son la pesca, la acuicultura, el transporte marino y el turismo (Bermúdez-Guzmán et al, 2020). Estudios científicos han demostrado que los MP son capaces de acarrear contaminantes y organismos patógenos en su superficie, llevándolos a lugares donde nunca antes han estado, afectando ecosistemas de muchas maneras.…”

Hábitos alimentarios de tres especies de peces lenguados (Pleuronectiformes: Achiridae) en la Bahía de Buenaventura, Pacífico Colombiano

“…El estudio de los hábitos alimentarios de la familia Achiridae permite conocer las interrelaciones con diferentes organismos estuarinos, y su variación podría representar cambios en el nicho ecológico dentro de la estructura de la comunidad (Guevara et al, 2007). El ser humano ha influenciado en la ecología trófica al introducir diferentes compuestos a los ecosistemas (Sousa et al, 2019), siendo los microplásticos (desechos plásticos inferiores a 5 mm) de sumo interés por su cantidad, potencial de acumulación en los ecosistemas y por su ingesta accidental por animales marinos (Bermúdez-guzmán et al, 2020;Ory et al, 2018). Los microplásticos en los organismos pueden causar desnutrición al bloquear el tracto digestivo (Elías, 2015) e introducción de toxinas debido a que tienden a absorber y acumular contaminantes del agua circundante, como metales pesados y contaminantes orgánicos (Guo & Wang, 2019).…”