We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Oyster Microplastic Concentrations
Summary
Scientists fed oysters a mix of tiny plastic bits, plastic fibers, and tire dust at different water temperatures to see how much they'd absorb—and whether they could flush it out once moved to clean water. The findings matter because oysters are eaten whole, meaning any microplastics they soak up from warming, polluted waters could end up on your dinner plate, and warmer ocean temperatures (tied to climate change) may make this worse.
Microplastic counts and concentrations from the study "Microplastic Accumulation and Depuration in the Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica: Influence of Seawater Temperature and Particle Type".Oysters were exposed at 20°C, 24°C, or 28°C to a solution of equal parts microplastic fragments, microplastic fibers, and crumb rubber, a proxy for tire and road wear particles. Oysters were sacrificed at 0, 24, 48, or 96 hours of exposure. Remaining oysters were transferred to microplastic-free water and sacrificed after 24, 48, or 96 hours of depuration. Oysters were then shucked, weighed, digested in 10% KOH, and filtered onto glass microfiber filters. Microplastics on each filter were then counted under a dissecting scope.In this dataset, the "Group" column corresponds to exposure or depuration time, with positive numbers being exposure groups, and negative numbers being depuration groups.