Microplastics in marine biota of North Aegean Sea: Summarizing and comparing preliminary findings

Rising scientific literature and legislation measures have highlighted the concern on plastic pollution and the issue of microplastics. In the context of this study, 3 marine species of commercial interest (bogues, Mediterranean mussels, blue crabs) were examined, concerning microplastics’ presence and characteristics. The abundance of the ingested items ranged between 1.22 and 3.30 items/individual. In total, 172 items were extracted from the samples, while only three items were categorised as mesoplastics. The most frequent size for all three species was particles smaller than 200 μm, while fragment was the most frequent type of microplastic (58.48%). In total, 12 colours were recorded, with blue being the most frequent one. Within the sampling areas, significant differences were determined (p <0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test). Specifically, samples collected at Lesvos were significantly different from those collected at Thermaikos Gulf (p <0.05, Dunn’s Multiple Comparison test), while no difference existed among the samples of the different species originating from Thermaikos Gulf. This study contributes to fill the gap of knowledge regarding microplastic contamination of the North Aegean marine biota. In addition, this effort records for the first time the presence of microplastics in blue crabs at the North Aegean region.