The uptake of macroplastic & microplastic by demersal & pelagic fish in the Northeast Atlantic around Scotland

Abstract

This study reports plastic ingestion in various fish found from coastal and offshore sites in Scottish marine waters. Coastal samples consisted of three demersal flatfish species (n=128) collected from the East and West coasts of Scotland. Offshore samples consisted of 5 pelagic species and 4 demersal species (n=84) collected from the Northeast Atlantic. From the coastal fish sampled, 47.7% of the gastrointestinal tracts contained macroplastic and microplastic. Of the 84 pelagic and demersal offshore fish, only 2 (2.4%) individuals from different species had ingested plastic identified as a clear polystyrene fibre and a black polyamide fibre. The average number of plastic items found per fish from all locations that had ingested plastic was 1.8 (±1.7) with polyamide (65.3%), polyethylene terephthalate (14.4%) and acrylic (14.4%) being the three most commonly found plastics. This study adds to the existing data on macroplastic and microplastic ingestion in fish species.

Classification of marine microdebris: A review and case study on fish from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

“…These studies confirmed the ingestion of both synthetic (e.g. polyamide, polyester, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polystyrene) 18 , 35 , 36 , 57 , and semi-synthetic (e.g. rayon, cellophane) 18 , 23 , 35 fibres by fish.…”

The effects of trophic transfer and environmental factors on microplastic uptake by plaice, Pleuronectes plastessa, and spider crab, Maja squinado

“…223The percentage of contaminated P. platessa recorded here is commensurate with other studies of microplastic 224 uptake by fish in UK waters. Whilst the abundance of fish seen to have consumed plastic is higher than that of 225 demersal species reported from the nearby English Channel (35%)(Lusher et al, 2013), it is similar to that observed 226 in fish in nearshore Scottish waters (45%)(Murphy et al, 2017), and below that of flounder, Platichthys flesus, in 227 the Thames Estuary(McGoran et al, 2017). The average number of microplastics per animal (1.46) was also similar 228 to that seen around the UK; higher than that recorded by Murphy et al (2017) (0.9 ± 1.79), but similar to that 229 observed in demersal fish studied byLusher et al (2013) (1.2 ± 0.54).…”

“…Whether or not microplastics are transferred to humans through their food, and the potential health effects of this 71 transfer, has also recently become a key research priority (Galloway, 2015;Rochman et al, 2015;Van 72 Cauwenberghe and Janssen, 2014). Microplastics have been observed in several commercially harvested species of 73 fish and shellfish including cod, haddock, mackerel (Foekema et al, 2013;Murphy et al, 2017), langoustine (Welden 74 and Cowie, 2016a), oysters (Green, 2016), and mussels (Li et al, 2016), as well as other species from fish markets 75 around the world (Miranda and de Carvalho-Souza, 2016; Rochman et al, 2015). If microplastics do generate 76 negative health effects in humans, it is highly likely that these effects will increase in relation with the abundance 77 of microplastic in our food.…”

Microplastics as Vehicles of Environmental PAHs to Marine Organisms: Combined Chemical and Physical Hazards to the Mediterranean Mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis

“…The increase of plastics and microplastics in marine ecosystems has raised concern on their impact to marine organisms, and several species have been shown to ingest these particles under experimental and wild conditions (Cole et al, 2011;Lusher et al, 2013;De Witte et al, 2014;Avio et al, 2015Avio et al, , 2017bDevriese et al, 2015;Paul-Pont et al, 2016;Sussarellu et al, 2016;Murphy et al, 2017). The capability of microplastics to efficiently adsorb chemical pollutants from the environment (Avio et al, 2017a) poses an additional risk although there is not yet clear evidence that microplastics ingestion has adverse consequences on the health status of marine species, especially under long term conditions.…”