Microplastics in wild clams harvested from coastal waters of Lamongan, Indonesia

Abstract

The contamination of microplastics have been reported in a wide array of marine organisms, including bivalve molluscs. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and abundance of microplastics in bivalves from coastal waters of Paciran, Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia. High population and anthropogenic activities in the area may lead the contamination of microplastics in its marine organisms. Microplastics were recovered from the soft tissues of three species of wild clams, Gafrarium tumidum, Anadara antiquata, and Venerupis philippinarum. In each species, microplastics were grouped based on their types and sizes. The extraction of microplastics was using 30% H2O2, while flotation method using NaCl was used to separate the dissolved liquid of the clam’s soft tissues. Microplastic ingestion was found in 99.23% of the clam samples with average concentration of 3.5 ± 2.8 items/individual and 3.2 ± 2.52 items/g. V. philippinarum had the highest microplastics concentration (4.9 ± 2.80 items/g and 5.6 ± 3.22 items/individual). Microplastic types from all samples were dominated by fibers (80.77%), in which 57% of them were less than 200 µm in size. The ubiquitous contamination of microplastics in clams of the coastal waters of Lamongan, Indonesia is serious concerns for marine food webs and human health.

The effect of the abundance of venus clams (Gafrarium tumidum Röding, 1798) on sediment accretion in the sandy intertidal of Pari Island

“…Research on G. tumidum in Pari Island is limited to its stock [14] and distribution [12,13]. In Indonesia, it is still limited to bioecology [15,16], the relationship between habitat quality and its distribution patterns [12,17], and its mineral [18] and microplastics contents [19,20]. So that this study aims to determine the ability of the G. tumidum to alter the sediment physical properties in Pari Island.…”

Occurrence And Fate Of Microplastics In Urban Freshwater Systems

“…Collected sediment samples were characterized and separated into five different size fractions: <2 μm (clay), 2-63 μm (silt), 63-200 μm (fine sand), 200-630 μm (medium sand) and 630-3500 μm (coarse sand). The grain size distribution of each sample was determined using sieves with different mesh sizes for sediments larger than 63 μm and a hydrometer test for sediments smaller than 63 μm (Asadi et al, 2019).…”

“…The grain size distribution followed the same procedure as described by Molazdeh et al (2023). In brief, sieves with different mesh sizes were used for size classification of grains > 63 µm and hydrometer tests were used for grains < 63 µm (Asadi et al, 2019).…”