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Exposure to microplastics impairs fish's major behaviors. A novel threat to aquatic ecosystem
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This review synthesises evidence on how microplastic exposure alters key behaviours in fish including feeding, reproduction, predator avoidance, and social interaction. It identifies neurological disruption, chemical co-toxicity, and gut effects as primary mechanisms, and highlights exposure to realistic environmental concentrations as an ongoing knowledge gap.
Microplastic (MP) pollution has emerged as a pervasive and persistent threat, fundamentally altering aquatic ecosystems through the ubiquitous dispersion of synthetic particles. This review study aimed to highlight the possible consequences of MPs on fish behavior and to identify some significant gaps, which need to be filled scientifically, i.e., to study the fate and effects of MPs on fish behavior in water flow velocity. Behavior, as the final integrated result of an organism's neurological and physiological state, represents a uniquely sensitive and relevant endpoint for assessing sublethal stress. This review critically deconstructs the impacts on core behavioral repertoires, including swimming, reproduction, sociality, and predator-prey dynamics, framing them not merely as toxicological signatures but as potent drivers of ecological change. By arguing that behavioral science must be a keystone of modern ecotoxicology, we draw a future research direction, supporting an ecologically-realistic and mechanistically-driven approach to confront the silent fish behavioral abnormalities caused by the MPs pollution.
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Microplastics and behavioral changes in fish: an integrative review
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This integrative review synthesizes the scientific literature on how microplastic exposure affects fish behavior, covering feeding, reproduction, predator avoidance, and social interactions. Exposure to microplastics consistently disrupted behavioral endpoints across fish species, with effects linked to oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, and endocrine disruption.
Microplastics Induced Dysfunctions in Physiology and Behavior of Fish: A Comprehensive Review.
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Researchers comprehensively review how microplastics disrupt fish physiology, documenting effects on growth, blood chemistry, reproduction, oxidative stress, immune function, and behavior — tracing mechanisms from gastrointestinal damage and endocrine disruption to neurotoxicity and transgenerational harm — to inform ecological risk assessment in aquatic and fisheries contexts.
Toxicity of microplastics in fish: A short review
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This short review summarizes current knowledge on microplastic occurrence in fish, covering sources and pathways of ingestion, impacts on fish physiology and behavior, and potential strategies for monitoring and reducing contamination.
Neurophysiological and Behavioral Effects of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Organisms
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Researchers reviewed evidence that micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic environments cross the blood-brain barrier, accumulate in neural tissues, and cause oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and disrupted neurotransmitter signaling, with downstream effects on locomotion, feeding, predator avoidance, and social behavior across multiple aquatic species.
Microplastics as an Emerging Threat to the Freshwater Fishes: a Review
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This review examines microplastics as an emerging threat to freshwater fishes, covering their sources from cosmetics and plastic debris fragmentation, routes of entry including wastewater treatment plants, and documented toxic effects on fish physiology and behavior.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.