New insights into whale shark Rhincodon typus diet in Brazil: an observation of ram filter-feeding on crab larvae and analysis of stomach contents from the first stranding in Bahia state

Microplastics on the Menu: Plastics Pollute Indonesian Manta Ray and Whale Shark Feeding Grounds

“…However, to our knowledge, no plastic abundance estimates for manta ray and whale shark feeding grounds currently exist for Indonesia or the greater Coral Triangle. Furthermore, while there is empirical evidence that whale sharks ingest plastic (Haetrakul et al, 2009;Sampaio et al, 2018;Abreo et al, 2019;Donati et al, 2019), confirmation that manta rays ingest plastics is yet unavailable. Plastic ingestion by manta rays might be confirmed from opportunistic stomach contents analysis of stranded individuals (e.g., Haetrakul et al, 2009;Besseling et al, 2015;Sampaio et al, 2018;Abreo et al, 2019) and could potentially also be assessed through non-invasive analysis of egested material (Donati et al, 2019).…”

You Are What You Eat, Microplastics in Porbeagle Sharks From the North East Atlantic: Method Development and Analysis in Spiral Valve Content and Tissue

“…Different methodologies to extract spiral valve content and tissue were explored and the most appropriate method, a combination of gravity and massaging, was applied on the remaining spiral valves. Several studies report microplastic ingestion based on the examination of the whole or substantial parts of the digestive tract (Foekema et al, 2013;Lusher et al, 2013;Phillips and Bonner, 2015;Bernardini et al, 2018;Sampaio et al, 2018;Smith, 2018). Most laboratory equipment was not readily available for the rather large volumes of porbeagle spiral valve content we encountered (e.g., one porbeagle spiral valve content measured 424 g w.w.).…”

“…In addition, it has been reported in higher trophic levels, such as fish (e.g., herring), birds (e.g., Northern Fulmars) and marine mammals (e.g., whales) (Van Franeker et al, 2011;Foekema et al, 2013;Lusher et al, 2013Lusher et al, , 2016Besseling et al, 2015;Bellas et al, 2016;Steer et al, 2017;Nelms et al, 2018). It is suggested that the larger marine animals obtain the microplastics directly via ingestion (e.g., filter feeding) (Sampaio et al, 2018) or indirectly by trophic transfer via fish which consumed microplastics (Lusher et al, 2015a;Fossi et al, 2017).…”

“…Macro debris ingestion and entanglement has been commonly observed in a range of sharks species (Cliff et al, 2002;Bernardini et al, 2018;Sampaio et al, 2018;Smith, 2018;Barreto et al, 2019). There are only few published studies identifying plastics and/or microplastics in sharks (Diana et al, 2014;Fossi et al, 2014Fossi et al, , 2017Cartes et al, 2016;Panti et al, 2016;Alomar and Deudero, 2017;Bernardini et al, 2018;Sampaio et al, 2018;Smith, 2018). Available microplastic studies mostly analyzed small types of Elasmobranches where the entire stomach and intestines was dissected and/or digested for subsequent microscopic analysis (Alomar and Deudero, 2017;Smith, 2018).…”

“…Available microplastic studies mostly analyzed small types of Elasmobranches where the entire stomach and intestines was dissected and/or digested for subsequent microscopic analysis (Alomar and Deudero, 2017;Smith, 2018). Studies dealing with larger sharks are limited to stomach content analysis and report only macro litter items (Sampaio et al, 2018) and/or microplastics within the range 5-1 mm (Bernardini et al, 2018). There are many opportunities for bias in estimating diets from the stomach contents of elasmobranches in the field (Cortés, 1997;Bucking, 2015).…”