Occurrence of Anthropogenic Debris in Three Commercial Shrimp Species from South-Western Ionian Sea

Abstract

Deep Sea environments represent the final collector of anthropogenic debris mainly represented by both plastic and non-plastic materials with different size. This led to potential contamination of deep marine fauna due to direct and indirect ingestion, representing a potential hazard for the species itself and for the final consumer. In this framework, the present study explored the occurrence of anthropogenic debris in the gastrointestinal tract of three Decapoda species of high commercial and ecological value (Parapenaeus longirostris, Aristeus antennatus, and Aristaeomorpha foliacea) from south-western Ionian Sea. After morphometrical measurements and sex determination, the gastrointestinal tract of 136 specimens were extracted and then chemically digested. A total of 230 low density microparticles were isolated, with a high frequency of occurrence in all the analyzed species (76% in P. longirostris, 70% in A. antennatus, and 83% in A. foliacea) mainly represented by fibers (92.6%) with a size between 0.10 and 0.49 mm, and with a dominance of the blue color. The results of the present study report for the first time the anthropogenic debris presence in the studied Decapoda from south-western Ionian Sea, highlighting the necessity to broaden the knowledge about anthropogenic debris pollution status in Mediterranean deep-sea species.

Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) as a Sentinel Species to Assess Trace Metal Occurrence: A Case Study of Kuwait Waters (Northwestern Arabian Gulf)

“…Decapod crustaceans have been suggested as potentially useful environmental indicators for coastal marine environments [ 48 , 49 ]. A variety of indicator types were identified as relevant for application to decapod crustaceans, such as molecular biomarker synthesis [ 50 , 51 , 52 ], bioaccumulation of toxicants [ 53 , 54 ], sex ratio [ 55 ], abundance [ 56 , 57 ], biomass [ 56 , 58 ], morphometrics [ 59 , 60 ], and prevalence of disease [ 61 , 62 ]. To assess the concentrations of chemical pollutants and the current status of marine ecosystems, different species of portunids can be used as sentinel organisms [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ].…”

Comparative microplastic load in two decapod crustaceans Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) and Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

“…The spiny lobster P. elephas laks a significant body of literature on MPs contamination, since less than 100 specimens have been processed so far in the whole Mediterranean, making difficult to establish if MPs contamination of this species in the Mediterranean area can be as heterogeneous as per other crustaceans such as A. antennatus, A. foliacea or N. norvegicus, with very different levels of MPs ingestion according to the geographic areas and sites (Carreras-Colom et al, 2022aD'Iglio et al, 2022;Hara et al, 2020;Joyce et al, 2022a).…”