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Low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fish species from the southeast Pacific Ocean
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Researchers examined the gut contents of 292 planktivorous fish from seven species along the southeast Pacific coast and found a very low prevalence of microplastic contamination, with only 2.1% of fish containing plastic particles. The microplastics found were degraded fragments and threads of various colors, suggesting the fish were not selectively targeting them. The study indicates that microplastic ingestion risk for planktivorous species in this region may currently be limited compared to other ocean areas.
The gut contents of 292 planktivorous fish, from four families (Atherinopsidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Scombridae) and seven species, captured along the coast of the southeast Pacific, were examined for microplastic contamination. Only a small fraction of all studied fish (2.1%; 6 individuals) contained microplastic particles in their digestive tract. Microplastics found were degraded hard fragments and threads, ranging from 1.1 to 4.9 (3.8±SD 2.4) mm in length, and of various colours, which suggests that the planktivorous fish species examined herein did not capture microplastics on the basis of their colour. The low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fishes found in this study suggests that the risk of accidental ingestion by these species might be limited in the coastal upwelled waters of the southeast Pacific, perhaps due to small human population and highly dynamic oceanographic processes.
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