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Feces and molting as microplastic sinks in a mangrove crab
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Researchers tracked how mangrove crabs handle microplastics they ingest from contaminated water over a 56-day experiment. Most of the ingested microplastics passed through the crabs quickly via feces and were also shed during molting, though some accumulated in the liver-like organ. While crabs can expel most microplastics, the study shows they still serve as temporary carriers that could transfer plastic particles to other animals, including humans, through the food web.
We exposed adult individuals of the sentinel mangrove crab Minuca rapax to waterborne microplastics (MP; 53-63 μm polyethylene spheres) in a long-term experiment (56 days). Weassessed 1) MP effects on growth, survival, and food intake. and 2) the MP tissue acumulation and its reduction of body burden through feces and molting. MP exposure did not affect growth and survival. The hepatopancreas accumulated more MP than the gills and muscle. Most of the ingested MP particles were released in the feces and molts, indicating a rapid passage through the digestive tract. MP impaired food intake of M. rapax, with unknown consequences to the local populations. These results provide insights on MP translocation mechanisms, its elimination and toxicity associated with MP.
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Feeding behavior is the main driver for microparticle intake in mangrove crabs
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Scientists investigated microplastic ingestion by crabs in mangrove ecosystems and found that feeding behavior was the primary driver of particle uptake, with deposit-feeding crabs accumulating more microplastics than filter feeders, underscoring the role of behavioral traits in determining microplastic exposure.
Ecosystem engineers come to town: how fiddler crabs thriving in heavily polluted urban mangroves process plastic particles
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Researchers tracked the uptake and fate of labeled polyethylene microspheres in the fiddler crab Minuca vocator in heavily polluted urban mangroves over 66 days, finding one of the highest microplastic ingestion rates ever recorded in nature (48.7 particles per crab) and examining how these ecosystem engineers process plastic-laden sediments.
Ecosystem engineers come to town: how fiddler crabs thriving in heavily polluted urban mangroves process plastic particles
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Researchers tracked the uptake and fate of labelled polyethylene microspheres released into plastic-polluted urban mangroves inhabited by the fiddler crab Minuca vocator over 66 days, recording one of the highest microplastic uptake levels ever observed in a wild organism at 48.7 particles per crab. The findings reveal how ecosystem engineers like fiddler crabs can bioturbate and redistribute microplastics through sediment reworking, with implications for both crab health and sediment-level microplastic dynamics.
Microplastic pollution in the surface waters, sediments, and wild crabs of mangrove ecosystems of East Java, Indonesia
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Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination across ten mangrove ecosystems in East Java, Indonesia, finding microplastics in surface water, sediment, and wild crabs — with each crab containing an average of 48 plastic particles in its gills and digestive tract, more than 60% of which were fibers. The strong correlation between sediment contamination and microplastics found inside the crabs points to a pathway through which plastics enter the marine food web.
Ingestion and translocation of microplastics in tissues of deposit-feeding crabs (Grapsoidea, Ocypodoidea) in Kochi estuary, Japan
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More than half of 116 intertidal crabs collected from a Japanese estuary contained microplastics, with PET fragments dominating and particles concentrated primarily in the gut. Smaller deposit-feeding crab species carried a higher microplastic burden relative to body weight than larger omnivorous species, showing that feeding behavior and body size both shape how much plastic wildlife accumulates in contaminated estuaries.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.