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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Environmental Sources
Marine & Wildlife
Policy & Risk
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Monitoring of anthropogenic microplastic pollution in antarctic fish (emerald rockcod) from the Terranova Bay after a quarter of century
The Science of The Total Environment2023
44 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 60
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Scientists analyzed 78 emerald rockcod fish caught in Antarctica's Ross Sea and compared their microplastic contamination to fish from the same area sampled 25 years earlier. They found a shift toward more synthetic fibers and different polymer types, reflecting increased human activity in the region over the past two decades. The study shows that even Antarctica's wildlife is accumulating more microplastics over time, underlining the global reach of plastic pollution.
Monitoring the occurrence of microplastic contamination in the Antarctic area is the key to implement policy measures for waste regulations in the research stations. Antarctic fish Trematomus bernachii is a suitable species for establishing microplastic contamination and for investigating changes over time in the concentration and type of microplastics in the Antarctic region. In this paper a total of 78 fish, caught during the 37 Italian Antarctic expedition (2021-2022) in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) were analysed. Different microfibers and dyes were identified by Raman spectroscopy and the results were compared with those obtained for fish sampled in 1998. Differences in polymer type emerged with a predominance of synthetic fibers with respect to natural ones. These changes appear to be related to the increased human activities in the Antarctica over the last twenty years and highlights the need to improve the environmental sustainability of the numerous research stations operating throughout that area.