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Quali-quantitative analysis of plastics and synthetic microfibers found in demersal species from Southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Central Mediterranean)
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Researchers examined plastic ingestion in five demersal fish species from the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, finding that 14.4% of 125 fish had ingested plastics at an average of 0.24 items per specimen, with fibers comprising the majority and the blackmouth catshark showing the highest contamination. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy identified the plastic debris as polypropylene, nylon, Teflon, polyethylene, and a triblock copolymer, with 94% classified as microplastics.
This study highlights plastics occurrence in five demersal fish species from the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea: the Red mullet Mullus barbatus barbatus, the Piper gurnard Trigla lyra, the Blackmouth catshark Galeus melastomus, the Lesser spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula and the Brown ray Raja miraletus. Overall, 125 fish were examined: 21 Red mullets, 16 Piper gurnards, 75 Blackmouth catsharks, 72 Dogfish and 1 Brown ray. The percentage of fish with ingested plastics was 14.4% with 0.24 items per specimen. The majority of the debris were fibers and the application of infrared and Raman spectroscopy allowed the identification and discrimination of plastic and non-plastic fibers. The plastic debris isolated were mainly microplastics (94.1%), while macroplastics occurrence was very low (5.9%). The plastics were identified as polypropylene, Teflon, nylon, kraton G (triblock copolymer) and polyethylene. Also cellulose was detected. S. canicula was the species with the highest number of plastic pollutants.
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