Microplastic abundance in sea cucumber at seagrass ecosystem of Bintan Island and surrounding area, Indonesia

Abstract

The increasing use of plastic in various aspects of life impacts the increase in plastic waste in the environment. The plastics are degraded into the smallest fragments to a size of <5 mm called microplastics. Further, microplastics will accumulate in the water, marine biota, and sediment. Sea cucumbers are deposited feeder and found in the seagrass ecosystem. This study aims to examine the abundance of microplastics in sea cucumbers, which are scattered in seagrass ecosystems in the waters of Bintan Island and the surrounding area. The method used is a purposive random sampling in a seagrass ecosystem area of 100 × 20 meters. The sea cucumbers obtained will then be dissected and observed for their microplastic content. The results showed that the sea cucumber found in the seagrass ecosystem on the Bintan island are Holothuria atra, H. scabra, and Sticopus variegatus. The highest density of sea cucumbers was found in Pengujan waters, with a value of 90 ind/ha. The highest microplastic content in sea cucumbers was found in Pengudang water, with a total of 52 ± 7.68 particles/ind. The dominant type of microplastics is fiber, with a total of 84 particles/ind.

Analysis of Microplastic in Holothuria leucospilota (Echinodermata-Holothuroidea) and Sediments from Karachi coast, (Northern Arabian Sea)

“…Fibers were the dominant microplastic type, up to 99% of all samples in this study. Similar results were reported by various researchers in different sea cucumber species and also different sediment samples (Husin et al, 2021;Idris et al, 2022;Mohsen et al, 2019). Fragment was the dominant only in the Holothoria floridana in Placencia Lagoon, Belize, Caribbean (Coc et al, 2021).…”

“…In total 1446 microplastic in 20 specimens' digestive tract of Stichopus horrens were reported in Pulau Pangkor, Perak, Malaysia (Husin et al, 2021). Digestive tract of three different sea cucumber species (Holothuria atra, Holothuria scabra, Sticopus variegatus) was investigated by Idris et al (2022) and microplastic amounts of these species were found between 32-52 pieces/ind. in Bintan Island, Riau Archipelago.…”

Microplastic contamination in sediment and Strombus sp. on Bintan Island, Indonesia

“…the study site. This is similar to [9] that microplastics are dominated by the fiber type followed by the fragment type. According to [18], the spread of microplastic fiber types can be affected due to fishing activities, such as degraded fishing rods and nets.…”

“…According to [8], the size and colour of microplastics that resemble food will cause microplastics to be consumed by marine biota. Previous research conducted by [9] showed that microplastics have been found in the digestive tract of sea cucumber organisms that live in seagrass. Based on this, there is a need for research on the characteristics of microplastics in barking snails (Strombus sp.)…”

An Overview of Microplastics in the Marine Ecosystem of North Maluku

“…Sea cucumbers' gastrointestinal tracts include three different kinds of microplastics: fibre, pieces, and balls. According to multiple earlier investigations, fibre and fragments were also discovered in the digestive tracts of sea cucumbers on Tidung Island and Bintan Island (Sayogo et al, 2020;Idris et al, 2022). Numerous other kinds of microplastics are discovered in the digestive tract of different species of sea cucumber.…”