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Investigation of Residual Microplastics in Marine Organisms
Original title: 해양생물 체내 잔류 미세플라스틱 조사
Summary
Microplastics were found in three commercially sold shellfish species — clams, blood cockles, and sea squirts — purchased at a market in Busan, South Korea. The findings indicate that these commonly consumed seafood items are contaminated with microplastics, raising food safety concerns for Korean consumers.
Microplastic pollution in the marine ecosystem has been emerged as a global issue. In this study, we investigated the abundance of microplastics from clam Meretrix lusoria, blood arkshell Scapharca broughtonii, and warty sea squirt Styela clava obtained from a local market in Busan, Korea. The marine organisms were digested in 10% KOH, and were incubated at 40˚C and 150 rpm, for 7 days. The digest was filtered through standard sieve (5 mm, 1 mm, 300 μm, and 100 μm), and mciroplastics were identified using a light microscope and microFT-IR. The abundance of microplastics of clam, blood arkshell, warty sea squirt was 0.08 items/g, 0.05 items/g, and 0.12 items/g, respectively. The predominant microplastic size was in the range of 100-300 μm, occupying 48%, and the predominant type was fiber. The composition of microplastics was mostly rayon, semi-synthetic cellulosic material and polyester, which are main component of fabric and textile. We strongly believe that this preliminary work may provide useful information for the establishment of the standardized analysis method of microplastics ingested by marine organisms.