Identification and Characterization of Micro and Mesoplastics Isolated from Commercially Important Marine Fishes of Pulicat Lake, Tamil Nadu, India

The investigation of microplastics have been carried out among the commercially important marine fishes at Pulicat lake waters. The gastrointestinal tract of fishes were isolated and experimented for further analysis to detect the presence of microplastics. The fishes viz., Nemipterus japonicus, Mugil cephalus, Scomberomorus guttatus, Terapon puta, Sardinella longiceps, Caranx ignobilis, Stolephorus indicus, Rastrelliger kanagurta, Eleuthronema tetradactylum, Alectis indica, Leiognathus sp., Trichiurus lepturus, Trachurus lathamni, Selaroides leptolepis and Terapon jarbua were examined in this study. The microplastics samples were confirmed with BrukerAlpha FTIR ATR spectrophotometer in order to confirm plastics functional groups. Out of the 16 plastic particles isolated, 8 particles were mesoplastics and the rest of them were microplastics. The FTIR-ATR peaks were confirmed C-H stretching and N- H stretching (polyamide), C-H stretching, O-H stretching or N-H stretching (poly lactic acid), CH group (polythene) and C-H stretching, C=O stretching and C-O stretching (polyester). The presence of microplastics in the fish from the sampling locations may be due to unmonitored dumping of wastes in the water. The presence of microplastics may affect the growth of fish which leads to poor commercial value. The future research should be aimed to evaluate the impact and the risk of microplastics to the fishes, environment as well as human beings and to create awareness among the people, as well as the fishermen.