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Microplastic pollution in coastal ecosystem off Mumbai coast, India
Summary
Researchers surveyed microplastic contamination across water, sediment, and marine fish in the coastal waters off Mumbai, India. They found an average of 372 particles per liter in water and 9,630 particles per kilogram in sediment, with pelagic fish species containing up to 9 microplastic items per individual. The study identified eleven different polymer types and emphasizes that microplastic transfer through the food chain underscores the need for processing interventions to reduce contamination in fish destined for human consumption.
Microplastics (MPs) are anthropogenic pollutants which can adsorb toxic substances from surrounding water and absorb into the fish body. During the present study, MPs were observed in water, sediment, and gastrointestinal tracts of marine biota samples collected from the coastal waters of Mumbai, India. The mean abundances of MPs recorded in water samples 372 ± 143 items/liter and 9630 ± 2947 items/kg dry weight (DW) in sediment samples. The mean abundance of MPs in pelagic fish species varied from 6.74 ± 2.74 to 9.12 ± 3.57 items/individual and in the demersal species the values ranged from 5.62 ± 2.27 to 6.6 ± 2.98 items/individual. Shape-wise, four type of MPs were observed in the surface waters, sediments and all studied species, predominantly fibers, followed by fragments, pellets/beads, and films. Seven different colors of MPs (red, blue, black, translucent, brown, green, and yellow) were observed from studied samples. MPs of size below 250 μm formed the dominant size in the surface water, sediments, and biota samples except Bombay duck and Malabar sole fish. Based on Raman spectroscopy analysis, eleven types of plastic polymers identified from all studied samples. Thus, presence of MPs in studied biota indicates the transfer of MPs through interlinked food chain/web to higher trophic levels and the occurrence of MPs in the fish gut underlines the necessity of more studies on processing interventions for reducing the microplastic contamination in fish for human consumption.
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