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Fishing in troubled waters: Limited stress response to natural and synthetic microparticles in brown shrimp (Crangon crangon)
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This study examined whether brown shrimp show a measurable stress response when exposed to microplastics, finding that this species living in high-particle coastal environments shows limited additional physiological response to synthetic plastic particles. The results suggest some organisms adapted to naturally particle-rich environments may have limited sensitivity to microplastics.
Marine invertebrates inhabiting estuaries and coastal areas are exposed to natural suspended particulate matter (SPM) like clay or diatom shells but also to anthropogenic particles like microplastics. SPM concentrations may reach 1 g per liter and more, comprising hundreds of millions of items in the size range of less than 100 μm. Suspension feeders and deposit feeders involuntarily ingest these particles along with their food. We investigated whether natural and anthropogenic microparticles at concentrations of 20 mg L-1, which correspond to natural environmental SPM concentrations in coastal marine waters, are ingested by the brown shrimp Crangon crangon and whether these particles induce an oxidative stress response in digestive gland tissue. Shrimp were exposed to clay, silica, TiO2, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or polylactide microplastics (PLA) for 6, 12, 24, and 48 h, respectively. The activities of the anti-oxidative enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR) were measured. All five particle types were ingested by the shrimp along with food. The presence of the particles in the shrimp stomach was verified by scanning electron microscopy. The activities of the anti-oxidative enzymes did not vary between animals exposed to different types of microparticles and control animals that did not receive particles. The temporal activity differed between the three enzymes. The lack of a specific biochemical response may reflect an adaptation of C. crangon to life in an environment where frequent ingestion of non-digestible microparticles is unavoidable and continuous maintenance of inducible biochemical defense would be energetically costly. Habitat characteristics as well as natural feeding habits may be important factors to consider in the interpretation of hazard and species-specific risk assessment.
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Researchers compared how synthetic microplastics and natural microparticles affect brown shrimp at the cellular level. They found that microplastics caused more pronounced stress responses than natural particles, suggesting that the chemical composition of microplastics, not just their physical properties, drives toxicity in marine organisms.
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This doctoral research investigated how brown shrimp respond to both synthetic microplastics and natural organic microparticles, focusing on antioxidant defense mechanisms. The study aims to understand why some marine species appear more vulnerable to microplastic ingestion than others.
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Field sampling found brown shrimp from the North Sea contained between 51 and hundreds of microparticles in their stomachs, and lab experiments showed the particles distributed throughout the digestive system. The study reveals that brown shrimp — a commercially important species — accumulate substantial microplastics in their natural habitat.
Microplastic contamination in brown shrimp (Crangon crangon, Linnaeus 1758) from coastal waters of the Southern North Sea and Channel area
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Researchers examined brown shrimp caught from the North Sea and found microplastics in their digestive tracts, documenting contamination in a commercially important crustacean consumed widely by humans in northern Europe.
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Scientists found tiny plastic particles (microplastics) in nearly 3 out of 4 brown shrimp tested from the Black Sea, with the highest levels near coastal towns—suggesting human activity is a major source of this pollution. Since shrimp and similar seafood are widely eaten, this matters because it means the plastics we throw away can work their way back into our food, though this study focused on the shrimp themselves rather than directly testing effects on human health.
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