Abundance, shape, and chemical composition of microplastics within ten common marine species in Xiangshan Bay

Abstract:

Marine microplastic pollution has become a global environmental problem. Understanding the status of microplastic pollution in living organisms is fundamental for assessing the biological effects on ecosystems. This study investigates the microplastic pollution status in tissues (digestive tract, gill and muscle) of ten common species in Xiangshan Bay. The results show that microplastics are widely present in all ten species. A total of 131 microplastics were detected in 61.0% of the organisms, with an average abundance of (1.3±1.5) items/individual. A total of nine microplastic types were detected. The majority of the plastics were rayon (RY; 74.0%), polyethylene terephthalate (PET; 14.5%), polypropylene (PP; 3.8%) and polyamide (PA; 3.1%). Fiber, fragment, and granule microplastic shapes were detected, accounting for 95.4%, 3.1%, and 1.5% of the total microplastics, respectively. Rayon and fiber were present in all species investigated. The size of the microplastics ranged from 110 μm to 4796 μm [mean value: (1246±1119) μm], with the size of ≤1000 μm accounting for 55.2% of the microplastics. PE, PP, and PS microplastics, as well as the typical foamed microplastics produced by breeding facilities, are detected less frequently and in a lower abundance in living organisms. Our findings provide the knowledge and data to improve our understanding of the status of microplastic pollution in marine organisms and assists in evaluating their biological effects in coastal ecosystems.