Microplastics Determination in Gastrointestinal Tracts of European Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and Gilt-Head Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

Abstract

Microplastic pollution has an extremely widespread distribution, to the extent that microplastics could be ingested by aquatic organisms, including species of commercial importance for fisheries and aquaculture. In this work, the anthropogenic particles content of the gastrointestinal tracts of 86 individuals of cultivated European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, n = 45) and gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata, n = 41) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) was determined. Samples were bought at local markets and directly transported to the laboratory. After the dissection of the fishes and digestion of the gastrointestinal tracts in 10% KOH (w/v) at 60 °C for 24 h, the digests were filtered (50 µm stainless-steel mesh) and visualized under a stereomicroscope, finding that most of the items were colourless (47.7% for Dicentrarchus labrax and 60.9% for Sparus aurata) and blue (35.3% vs. 24.8%) microfibers, with an average length of 1957 ± 1699 µm and 1988 ± 1853 µm, respectively. Moreover, 15.3% of the microfibres were analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, showing the prevalence of cellulosic fibres together with polyester, polyacrylonitrile, and poly(ether-urethane). This pattern (microplastics shapes, colours, sizes, and composition) clearly agrees with previous studies carried out in the Canary Islands region regarding the determination of microplastics in the marine environment.

Plastic Contamination in Seabass and Seabream from Off-Shore Aquaculture Facilities from the Mediterranean Sea

“…Our results confirmed that both seabass and seabream from off-shore aquaculture plants are subjected to contamination by plastics, even though the amount of particles detected was low. Comparing our results with the scientific literature, the number of items/individual detected is well below the study conducted by Sánchez-Almeida et al [23] and Kılıç [27] and lower also to the value obtained by Reinold et al [25] and Savoca et al [29]. Our study showed a similar percentage of incidence but a lower number of items/individual with respect to that of Bessa et al [26].…”

Impact of Fibrous Microplastic Pollution on Commercial Seafood and Consumer Health: A Review

“…Despite the strict control measures, the introduction of microfibers in aquaculture systems cannot be avoided. Analyses of the gastrointestinal tracts of 86 samples of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, n = 45) and gilt-head sea bream (S. aurata, n = 41) from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) showed the high prevalence of microfibers (100% and 96.1%, respectively), most of which were cellulose microfibers together with polyester, polyacrylonitrile, and poly(etherurethane) [79]. Fishmeal has been investigated as a possible contamination source for farmed fish, showing an occurrence of about 124 microplastics per kg, including numerous microfibers (52.0 ± 14.0 items/kg), which may be derived from the contamination during the production process [80].…”

Abundance and Characteristics of Microplastics Found in The Gastrointestinal Tract of Commercial Marine Fish from Bitung, North Sulawesi – Indonesia

“…10 (Swann-Morton-England) to remove the gastrointestinal tract from the top of the esophagus to the anus. The gastrointestinal tract was put into a bottle containing 10% KOH solution to digest biological material (Sanchez-Almeida et al, 2022). The gastrointestinal tract bottle was stored in an oven with a temperature of about 60 o C for 24 hours.…”