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Microplastic Contamination of Wild and Captive Flathead Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus)
Summary
Researchers compared microplastic ingestion in wild and captive flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) in Hong Kong, finding contamination in 60% of wild fish versus only 16.7% of farmed fish, with wild individuals averaging 4.3 plastic items each. Polypropylene fibres under 2 mm were the dominant type, and microplastic abundance correlated positively with body size in wild fish.
A total of 60 flathead grey mullets were examined for microplastic ingestion. Thirty wild mullets were captured from the eastern coast of Hong Kong and 30 captive mullets were obtained from fish farms. Microplastic ingestion was detected in 60% of the wild mullets, with an average of 4.3 plastic items per mullet, while only 16.7% of captive mullets were found to have ingested microplastics, with an average of 0.2 items per mullet. The results suggested that wild mullets have a higher risk of microplastic ingestion than their captive counterparts. The most common plastic items were fibres that were green in colour and small in size (<2 mm). Polypropylene was the most common polymer (42%), followed by polyethylene (25%). In addition, the abundance of microplastics was positively correlated with larger body size among the mullets.