Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Microplastics in freshwater wild and farmed fish species of Bangladesh

  • Environmental Toxicology: Impact on Human Health
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In today’s world, microplastic contamination of aquatic systems is a subject of major concern. In this study, the incidence of microplastics in freshwater fish from both farmed and wild sources was evaluated. Wild catla (Gibelion catla), stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis), rui (Labeo rohita), tengara catfish (Mystus tengara), and pabdah catfish (Ompok pabda) were collected from Padma River, Turag River, and Bhairab River. Farmed fishes of same species were collected from Mymensingh and Chandpur fish markets. A total of 68 (43.6%) microparticles out of 156 were identified as microplastics using ATR-FTIR. About 66.67% (20 out of 30) of farmed fish samples had microplastics in their digestive system, while 88.4% (23 of 26) of wild fish samples presented microplastics. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in average microplastic count between wild and farmed fish. Average microplastic count also showed a significant difference among five fish species (p < 0.01). A variety of polymers were observed, with polyethylene being the most abundant, followed by polyester, polypropylene, polyamide-6, and polyurethane. This study suggests that microplastic contamination is ubiquitous and contamination is common in all of the fish species investigated, independent of their origin (wild or farmed). However, wild fish population is at a greater risk of ingesting microplastics. This study, for the first time ever, reports plastic pollution in freshwater fishes of Bangladesh from wild and farmed sources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18

Similar content being viewed by others

Data and materials availability

All the data and the materials used in this experiment were collected by the authors and available for further checking. There is no restriction on the availability of the data and the materials.

References

  • Ahmad P, Jaleel CA, Sharma S (2010) Antioxidant defense system, lipid peroxidation, proline-metabolizing enzymes, and biochemical activities in two Morus alba genotypes subjected to NaCl stress. Russ J Plant Physiol 57(4):509–517. https://doi.org/10.1134/S102144371004008

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alam K (2009) Cleanup of the Buriganga River: integrating the environment into decision making. PhD Thesis, Murdoch University

  • Alfaro-Nunez A, Astorga D, Caceres-Farias L, Bastidas L, Villegas CS, Macay K et al (2021) Microsplastic pollution in seawater and marine organisms across the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Galapagos. Scientific Rep 11(1):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrady AL (2011) Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar Pollut Bull 62(8):1596–1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2011.05.030

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Auta HS, Emenike CU, Fauziah SH (2017) Distribution and importance of microplastics in the marine environment: a review of the sources, fate, effects, and potential solutions. Environ Int 102:165–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVINT.2017.02.013

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur C, Baker JE, Bamford HA (2009) Proceedings of the International Research Workshop on the Occurrence, Effects, and Fate of Microplastic Marine Debris, September 9–11, 2008, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

  • Azad KN, Hasan N, Azad KN (2020) Causes for drying up of Bhairab River in Bangladesh. J Fish Livestock Vet Sci 01(01):18–27. https://doi.org/10.18801/JFLVS.010120.03

  • Barnes DKA, Morley SA, Bell J, Brewin P, Brigden K, Collins M, Glass T, Goodall-Copestake WP, Henry L, Laptikhovsky V, Piechaud N, Richardson A, Rose P, Sands CJ, Schofield A, Shreeve R, Small A, Stamford T, Taylor B (2018) Marine plastics threaten giant Atlantic Marine Protected Areas. Curr Biol 28(19):1137–1138. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CUB.2018.08.064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blettler MCM, Abrial E, Khan FR, Sivri N, Espinola LA (2018) Freshwater plastic pollution: recognizing research biases and identifying knowledge gaps. Water Res 143:416–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WATRES.2018.06.015

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter EJ, Smith KL (1972) Plastics on the sargasso sea surface. Science 175:1240–1241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury P, Shofiquzzoha AFM, Bhadra A (2020) Evaluation trial on production performance of freshwater mud Eel (Monopterus cuchia) in farmer’s pond demonstration and dissemination of Monopterus cuchia culture technique in earthen ponds in different upazillas (Comp. A view project culture of indigenous small fishes in biofloc aquaculture system (Comp. A) View Project Asian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Research Evaluation Trial on Production Performance of Freshwater Mud Eel (Monopterus cuchia) in Farmer’s Pond. Original Research Article Chowdhury et al, 10(2): 9–15. https://doi.org/10.9734/AJFAR/2020/v10i230177

  • Cole M, Lindeque P, Fileman E, Halsband C, Galloway TS (2015) The impact of polystyrene microplastics on feeding, function and fecundity in the marine copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Environ Sci Technol 49(2):1130–1137. https://doi.org/10.1021/ES504525U/ASSET/IMAGES/ES504525U.SOCIAL.JPEG_V03

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson K, Dudas SE (2016) Microplastic ingestion by wild and cultured Manila clams (Venerupis philippinarum) from Baynes Sound, British Columbia. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 71(2):147–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00244-016-0286-4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DoE: Department of Environment, LGED: Local Government Engineering Department (2010) Limited environmental and social impact assessment and environmental & social management framework. In: Bangladesh: Dhaka environment and water project volume 1: Main Text. Department of Environment & Local Government Engineering Department, Bangladesh, India

  • FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization (2018) The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2018 - meeting the sustainable development goals. FAO, Rome

  • Fendall LS, Sewell MA (2009) Contributing to marine pollution by washing your face: microplastics in facial cleansers. Mar Pollut Bull 58(8):1225–1228. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2009.04.025

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • FRSS: Fisheries Resource Survey System (2017) Fisheries resources survey system (FRSS), fisheries statistical report of Bangladesh, Vol-34, Bangladesh: Department of Fisheries 129

  • Goswami P, Vinithkumar NV, Dharani G (2020) First evidence of microplastics bioaccumulation by marine organisms in the Port Blair Bay, Andaman Islands. Mar Pollut Bull 155:111163. https://doi.org/10.1016/jmarpolbul.2020.111163

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Güven O, Gökdağ K, Jovanović B, Kıdeyş AE (2017) Microplastic litter composition of the Turkish territorial waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and its occurrence in the gastrointestinal tract of fish. Environ Pollut 223:286–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2017.01.025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hahladakis JN, Iacovidou E (2018) Closing the loop on plastic packaging materials: what is quality and how does it affect their circularity? Sci Total Environ 630:1394–1400. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2018.02.330

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez E, Nowack B, Mitrano DM (2017) Polyester textiles as a source of microplastics from households: a mechanistic study to understand microfiber release during washing. Environ Sci Technol 51(12):7036–7046. https://doi.org/10.1021/ACS.EST.7B01750/SUPPL_FILE/ES7B01750_SI_001.PDF

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hossain ML, Mahmud J, Islam J, Khokon ZH, Islam S (2005) Padma. Tatthyakosh 1–2:182

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossain MS, Sobhan F, Uddin MN, Sharifuzzaman SM, Chowdhury SR, Sarker S, Chowdhury MSN (2019) Microplastics in fishes from the Northern Bay of Bengal. Sci Total Environ 690:821–830. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2019.07.065

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • James K, Vasant K, Padua S, Gopinath V, Abilash KS, Jeyabaskaran R et al (2020) An assessment of microplastics in the ecosystem and selected commercially important fishes off Kochi, South Eastern Arabian Sea, India. Mar Pollut Bull 154:111027. https://doi.org/10.1016/marpolbul.2020.111027

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Janaina AK, Miguel P, Davi BG, Barrella W (2020) Textile sustainability: a Brazilian etiquette issue. Environ Sci Policy 109:125–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVSCI.2020.02.025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joadder MAR, Galib SM, Haque SMM, Chaki N (2015) Fishes of the river Padma, Bangladesh: current trend and conservation status. J Fish 3(2):259. https://doi.org/10.17017/JFISH.V3I2.2015.111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamal MM, Malmgren-Hansen A, Badruzzaman A (1996) Assessment of pollution of the Buriganga River, Bangladesh, using a water quality model. Dhaka: Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)

  • Khan HMS, Setu S (2022) Microplastic ingestion by fishes from Jamuna River, Bangladesh. Environ Nat Resour J 20(2):157–167. https://doi.org/10.32526/ENNRJ/20/202100164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lebreton LCM, Van Der Zwet J, Damsteeg JW, Slat B, Andrady A, Reisser J (2017) River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans. Nat Commun 8(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15611

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Zhang H, Tang C (2016) A review of possible pathways of marine microplastics transport in the ocean. Anthropocene Coasts 3:6–13. https://doi.org/10.1139/anc-2018-0030

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo W, Su L, Craig NJ, Du F, Wu C, Shi H (2019) Comparison of microplastic pollution in different water bodies from urban creeks to coastal waters. Environ Pollut 246:174–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2018.11.081

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lusher AL, Burke A, O’Connor I, Officer R (2014) Microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean: validated and opportunistic sampling. Mar Pollut Bull 88(1–2):325–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2014.08.023

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lusher A (2015) Microplastics in the environment: distribution, interactions and effects. Marine anthropogenic litter: Springer, Cham 3:245-307

  • Mourshed M, Masud MH, Rashid F, Joardder MUH (2017) Towards the effective plastic waste management in Bangladesh: a review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24(35):27021–27046. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11356-017-0429-9/FIGURES/25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Napper IE, Baroth A, Barrett AC, Bhola S, Chowdhury GW, Davies BFR, Duncan EM, Kumar S, Nelms SE, Hasan Niloy MN, Nishat B, Maddalene T, Thompson RC, Koldewey H (2021) The abundance and characteristics of microplastics in surface water in the transboundary Ganges River. Environ Pollut 274:116348. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2020.116348

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parvin F, Jannat S, Tareq SM (2021) Abundance, characteristics and variation of microplastics in different freshwater fish species from Bangladesh. Sci Total Environ 784:147137. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2021.147137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edn. Zoological Society of Bangladesh, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, p 394

  • R Development Core Team (2021) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing

  • Siddique S, Roy BB, Zaman S, Khan A, Al Alam MA, Chowdhury, RB, Biswas KF, Hossain MM, Murakami S and Sujauddin M (2022) Discerning the circularity of the plastic industry in Bangladesh through the lens of material flow analysis

  • Tsering T, Sillanpää M, Sillanpää M, Viitala M, Reinikainen SP (2021) Microplastics pollution in the Brahmaputra River and the Indus River of the Indian Himalaya. Sci Total Environ 789:147968. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2021.147968

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin K, Matin MA, Meye FJ (2019) Operational flood mapping using multi-temporal Sentinel-1 SAR images: a case study from Bangladesh. Remote Sens 11(13):1581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cauwenberghe L, Vanreusel A, Mees J, Janssen CR (2013) Microplastic pollution in deep-sea sediments. Environ Pollut 182:495–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2013.08.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright SL, Thompson RC, Galloway TS (2013) The physical impact of microplastics on marine organisms: a Review. Environ Pollut 178:483–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.02.031

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zbyszewski M, Corcoran PL, Hockin A (2014) Comparison of the distribution and degradation of plastic debris along shorelines of the Great Lakes, North America. J Great Lakes Res 40(2):288–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JGLR.2014.02.012

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research work is supported by the research grant of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), and the authors are acknowledged for technical support of Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka.

Funding

This research work was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangladesh and Financial Department of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhanmondi, Dhaka, 1205, Bangladesh

    Nahid Sultana, Muhammad Saiful Islam, Mahmuda Begum & Shanzida Islam

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Rafsana Rahman Tista & M. Niamul Naser

Authors
  1. Nahid Sultana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rafsana Rahman Tista
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muhammad Saiful Islam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mahmuda Begum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shanzida Islam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. M. Niamul Naser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Original draft preparation, Dr. Nahid Sultana and Rafsana Rahman Tista; conceptualization, Dr. M. Niamul Naser and Dr. Nahid Sultana; data analysis, Dr. Mahmuda Begum and Rafsana Rahman Tista; supervision, review, and editing of the manuscript, Dr. M. Niamul Naser, Dr. Nahid Sultana, Muhammad Saiful Islam, and Shanzida Islam.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nahid Sultana.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

All collected specimens were fish, which were collected from fishermen of Bangladesh. No live animal was harmed during this process.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

All the authors have given their consent to publish this article.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sultana, N., Tista, R.R., Islam, M.S. et al. Microplastics in freshwater wild and farmed fish species of Bangladesh. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 72009–72025 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26512-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26512-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation