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Presence of Polymers in Marine Mammals
Original title: Presencia De Polímeros En Mamíferos Marinos
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This Spanish-language review examined the types and body distribution of polymer microplastics found in marine mammals over recent years. It synthesizes evidence that marine mammals ingest and accumulate microplastics from their environment and food sources, raising concerns about plastic exposure in these long-lived, top predators.
The presence of microplastics in the aquatic environment encourages fauna to acquire these materials directly or indirectly through food, mainly. Marine mammals are no exception and due to their large size, they are susceptible to acquiring microplastics. This study seeks to define what type of polymers are present in aquatic mammals and what body distribution they have based on their properties, such as color, morphology, size, and type of polymer reported in the last four years and seven months. It was observed that compounds such as polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyethylene are present in most marine mammals. The dominant colors of these microplastics become black, blue, colorless, green, and gray, among others. Based on morphology, fibers and fragments dominate in a size range that varies between 100-20,000 µm for fibers and 44-40,000 µm for fragments, respectively.
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