Plastic Ingestion by the Small-Spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) from the South West Coast of the United Kingdom

Identifying Potential High-Risk Zones for Land-Derived Plastic Litter to Marine Megafauna and Key Habitats within the North Atlantic

“…Macroplastic ingestion has been observed in elasmobranchs with a wide range of ecological traits from small, demersal species including rays, dogfish and catsharks (López-López et al, 2018;Morgan et al, 2021;Sbrana et al, 2022;Smith, 2018), to pelagic top predators, such as the longfin mako (Isurus paucus) (Gong et al, 2023), the porbeagle (Lamna nasus) (Joyce et al, 2002), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) (Cliff et al, 2002), the bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus) (Benjamin et al, 2014), and the blue shark (Prionace glauca) (Bernardini et al, 2018;Fernández and Anastasopoulou, 2019), to indiscriminate filter feeders such as whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) (Abreo et al, 2019;Sampaio et al, 2018). Sharks appear to ingest a wide range of single-use items including packaging material and other sheet-like items, bottle caps, and plastic straws (Bernardini et al, 2018;Fossi et al, 2017;Gong et al, 2023).…”

Presence and Potential Effects of Microplastics in the Digestive Tract of Two Small Species of Shark from the Balearic Islands

“…Many studies investigating the potential effects of MP intake have been conducted with teleost fish species and have been analysed in some meta-analyses [16,17]. However, there are fewer and more recent publications on the effects of this type of contaminant on cartilaginous fish [18][19][20][21][22][23]. Although these studies have shown the presence of MPs in the gastrointestinal tract of different species of sharks and rays, including members of the genus Scyliorhinus and Galeus, none have attempted to determine the potential negative effects of ingesting MPs.…”

“…For its ecological features, this species plays a strategic role in the energy transfer between pelagic and benthic environments and vice versa [35]. Both sharks have been proposed as bioindicators for microplastic pollution [22,36]. In terms of spatial distribution, both species present a bathymetric overlap with S. canicula between 150 and 400 m and G. melastomus occupying the upper slope bottoms shallower than 500 m [33].…”