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No microplastics in benthic eelpout ( Zoarces viviparus ): An urgent need for spectroscopic analyses in microplastic detection
Summary
A study monitoring microplastic ingestion in eelpout fish found that visual identification alone falsely identified natural fibers as synthetic microplastics — spectroscopic analysis confirmed no actual microplastics were present. The findings underscore that infrared spectroscopy is essential for reliable microplastic research and that visual-only methods lead to significant overestimates.
Monitoring the ingestion of microplastics is challenging and suitable detection techniques are insufficiently used. Thus, misidentifying natural for synthetic microfibres cannot be avoided. As part of a framework to monitor the ingestion of microplastics in eelpout, this short report addresses the accurate identification of microfibres. We show that, following visual inspections, putatively synthetic microfibres are indeed of natural origin, as ascertained by spectrometric analyses. Consequently, we call for an inclusion of spectroscopic techniques in standardized microplastic monitoring schemes.