Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Rodríguez-Romeu, Oriol
• Constenla, María
• Carrassón, Maite
• Campoy-Quiles, Mariano
• Soler-Membrives, Anna

Titel

Are anthropogenic fibres a real problem for red mullets (Mullus barbatus) from the NW Mediterranean?

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2020-09, Vol.733, p.139336-139336, Article 139336

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Microfibres are among the most prevalent type of microplastics in marine environments. Man-made fibres derived from cellulose are distributed worldwide, but are often confused with synthetic plastic fibres and consequently neglected. All these fibres may adversely affect aquatic organisms, but their levels and potential effects in wild fish remain unknown. We analysed anthropogenic fibre (AF) ingestion in the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), at both temporal and geographical scales, to assess potential effects of these fibres on fish health condition. AFs were present in 50% of fish digestive tracts, with a mean of 1.48 AFs per individual (SD = 1.98). In Barcelona, an increase of 46% in AF ingestion was observed in 2018 compared to 2007. AF ingestion also increases by 20% when Barcelona is compared to a less urban area (the town of Blanes). Visual characterization of fibres by typologies—corroborated by Raman spectroscopy—allowed classification and identification of 88% of AFs as cellulosic (57%), and synthetic polymers (PET) (31%). In all sampling stations, the only histopathological alterations were cysts of unknown etiology, and the most abundant parasites were nematodes. None of these alterations, parasite load, or other fish health indicators (condition indices) indicate an effect of AF ingestion. [Display omitted] •Studies of marine micro-litter should consider plastic and non-plastic anthropogenic fibres (AFs).•An accurate visual approach is useful to differentiate synthetic and cellulosic fibre types.•Higher prevalence and abundance of AFs in demersal fish are detected near to polluted areas.•PET and cellulosic fibres were already common in Mullus barbatus 10 years ago.•No evidences of health effects attributable to AFs were detected for M. barbatus.