Abstract
Plastic pollution has become a global environmental problem of major concern. However, the plastic contamination in the marine top predators, particularly in endangered species, is incompletely understood because of the limited amount of data on their presence in the digestive system and prey. This study investigated the stomach contents of an endangered but poorly known shark species, the longfin mako shark (Isurus paucus), found in the tropical western Pacific Ocean. We examined the plastics in this female specimen (1.22-m fork length) and her prey to assess the potential for trophic transfer of microplastics. Polypropylene bottle cap and lollipop packaging, longnose lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox), and squid were found in the stomach of I. paucus, while no apparent internal injuries were noted. The microplastic fragments and granules, confirmed by laser direct infrared spectroscopy, were found in the digestive system of the intact squid ingested by I. paucus, suggesting that trophic transfer may occur between shark and prey. These results indicate that I. paucus is vulnerable to plastic ingestion and provide evidence of trophic transfer of microplastics in shark species. Our study emphasizes the need to evaluate the potential ecotoxicological consequences of increasing plastic pollution to endangered marine top predators.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the captain and the crews of the scientific vessel “SONGHANG” of Shanghai Ocean University. The authors thank all the staff at Shanghai Ocean University for their assistance with sample pretreatment.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31900333, 42276092) and the program on the Survey, Monitoring and Assessment of Global Fishery Resources (comprehensive scientific survey of fisheries resources at the high seas) sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China.
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Yi Gong, conceptualization, methodology, software, formal analysis, writing — original draft, and funding acquisition. Xuemin Huang, conceptualization, methodology, software, formal analysis, and writing — original draft. Zezheng Li, methodology, validation, formal analysis, and investigation. Yongfu Shen, methodology and investigation. Yunkai Li, resources, supervision, and funding acquisition. Jiangfeng Zhu, resources, supervision, and funding acquisition. Feng Wu, methodology.
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Gong, Y., Huang, X., Li, Z. et al. Plastic ingestion and trophic transfer in an endangered top predator, the longfin mako shark (Isurus paucus), from the tropical western Pacific Ocean. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 107365–107370 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25532-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25532-5