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Microplastic Abundance in Edible Crabs and Gastropods on the Blanakan Coast
Summary
Researchers sampled water, sediment, crabs, and gastropods along the Blanakan coast of Indonesia and detected microplastics in all sample types, with fragments, films, fibers, and pellets all present — suggesting widespread contamination that poses a food safety concern for local seafood consumed by humans.
Blanakan is a coastal area that is dominated by fishing areas, silvofishery ponds, and tourism areas, all of which can lead to pollution.Microplastics are one of the pollutants that can be formed due to the decomposition of plastic waste around the coast and they can contaminate the water, sediment, and biota.The small size of microplastics makes it easier for these particles to be carried away by currents and then trapped in the biota.Hence, this study aims to investigate the abundance of microplastics in the water, sediment, edible crabs and gastropods from the Blanakan coastal areas.The random purposive sampling method was used for the water, sediment, and biota samples, carried out at three stations with three repetitions.The total abundance of microplastics ranged between 320-380 particles/L in the water, 280-2200 particles/kg in the sediment, 3.5-25 particles/individual in crabs, and 5.5-8 particles/individual in gastropods.The forms of microplastics found in the water, sediment, and biota on the Blanakan coast were fragments, films, fibres, and pellets.The pellets were commonly found in the sediment samples and the fibres were found in the water samples, crabs, and gastropods.