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Occurrence of microplastics in gastrointestinal tracts of planktivorous fish from the Thoothukudi region

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Abstract

Planktivorous fish are easily susceptible to passive microplastic ingestion during their feeding behaviour and may be transferred along with the marine food web. Hence, the present study was conducted to assess the microplastics prevalence in the planktivorous fish (677 individuals) collected from 2 landing centres in the Thoothukudi, Gulf of Mannar region, South Tamil Nadu, India. The prevalence of microplastics was detected in 118 out of 677 individuals, with a mean abundance and percent occurrence of 1.22 ± 0.47 items/individual and 17%, respectively. The ingestion of microplastics in planktivorous fish was primarily due to their feeding habitat, in which they were prone to the accidental or passive intake of microplastics regardless of the fish’s length and body weight. The microplastics abundance was significantly higher in Sardinella gibbosa (1.34 ± 0.56 items/individual), which might be due to their pelagic and planktivorous feeding habitat, highest filtration capacity, presence of closed gill rakers, and also due to the passive ingestion of microplastics as food items. Fibres, blue, and 1 to 2mmsized microplastics were predominant in the guts of Sardinella gibbosa, accounting for 95.74, 47.87, and 46.80%, respectively, whereas in Leiognathus lineolatus, fragments, black, and 1 to 2mmsized microplastics were highly prevalent with 62.96, 72.22, and 79.62%, respectively. The predominance of various shapes (fragments, fibres), sizes (1–2 mm), and colours (blue and black) of microplastics in the guts of fish was influenced by their passive ingestion, ingestion of contaminated planktonic prey, lack of selectivity of prey particles and their resemblance to plankton species. Polypropylene polymers predominated (96.77% and 95.23%) in both fish, followed by polystyrene (3.22% and 4.76%). Furthermore, this study provides baseline data and insists that there is a need for continuous monitoring of the distribution of microplastics.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are in debt with Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University for providing facilities and technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Environment Management, Fisheries College and Research Institute, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India

    Keerthika Kalaiselvan, Padmavathy Pandurangan & Rani Velu

  2. Department of Fish Quality Assurance and Management, Fisheries College and Research Institute, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India

    Jeyashakila Robinson

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  1. Keerthika Kalaiselvan
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  2. Padmavathy Pandurangan
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  3. Rani Velu
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  4. Jeyashakila Robinson
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Keerthika Kalaiselvan: design of the study, acquisition of the data, and interpretation; Padmavathy Pandurangan: revision of the article; Rani Velu: revision of the article. Jeyashakila Robinson: final approval of the version to publish.

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Correspondence to Keerthika Kalaiselvan.

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Communicated by V.V.S.S. Sarma.

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Kalaiselvan, K., Pandurangan, P., Velu, R. et al. Occurrence of microplastics in gastrointestinal tracts of planktivorous fish from the Thoothukudi region. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 44723–44731 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19033-0

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