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Microplastics and Morphometrics Relationship in Coastal Fish

Preprints.org 2024 1 citation ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Edison D. Macusi, Jerald Jumag, Ginalyn Cuenca-Ocay, Michael Jeriel I. Bersaldo

Summary

Researchers found microplastics in selected commercial fish species from coastal and farshore areas near Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental, dissecting 80 fish samples collected across nearshore (0-5 km) and farshore (6-15 km) zones and analyzing relationships between microplastic burden and fish morphometrics.

This study found microplastics in selected commercial fish species in Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental. A total of 80 samples of fish were taken from the nearshore area (0-5 km) and from the farshore area (6-15 km). The fish samples were taken by a handliner (with GPS tracker), then dissected in the laboratory to remove its gut. Microscope analysis of gut contents showed 4 microplastic fibers found in the 40 fish samples collected from 0-5 km and only 2 microplastic fibers in the 6-15 km, among the 80 fish samples collected. Moreover, fish morphometrics were not related to the number of microplastic ingestion, but to mouth size for fish from the nearshore (0-5 km) and pectoral fin for fish from the farshore (6-15 km). While this study is not conclusive given that only 6 microplastics were found, it supports the thesis that nearshore areas are sink of microplastics.

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