Microplastics ingestion by Scomber colias, Mullus surmuletus and Pagrus pagrus in the Canary islands coast

Abstract

Microplastics (plastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter) have become of great interest in the last years due to their increase in marine environment and because of their toxicity in marine organisms, including also humans. Its toxicity depends on the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that could be adsorbed onto microplastic surfaces and therefore, result in health problems for living organisms that ingest this type of plastics. This problem could also affect the food chain as microplastics could be transferred into the food web. This study provides further evidence of microplastics ingestion in three different marine organisms from different habitats (pelagic and demersal fish) in the Canary Islands archipelago: Scomber colias, Mullus surmuletus and Pagrus pagrus. Results show that from the 92 specimens gastrointestinal tracts studied, a 31.52% had ingested some kinds of microplastics whereas the most predominant type of microplastics were fibres (51.3%) and the most predominant colour was blue (30.8%). Scomber colias was the species that had the highest amount of microplastics (37.5%), followed by Mullus surmuletus (33.33%) and Pagrus pagrus (23.33%). Further investigations are needed in order to assess whether their habitat is an important factor in determining that there are fish with more microplastics in their digestive tracts than others.