Microplastic pollution in the Maowei Sea, a typical mariculture bay of China

The ingestion of microplastics by organisms presents a potential exposure route for humans via seafood consumption.
Although mariculture has become an essential source of seafood worldwide, the content of
microplastics in the mariculture zone has received less scrutiny than in the wild environment. The Maowei Sea
is a semi-closed bay that is rich in fishery resources. The specific levels of microplastics in the Maowei Sea and
its fishery products remain undetermined. In this paper, we detail the distributions and characteristics of
microplastics in the aquaculture water and biota of the Maowei Sea. Microplastics were detected in the range
of 1.2–10.1 particles/L in Maowei Sea surface water, with high microplastic content in estuarine oyster nursery
(10.1 particles/L) and Qinzhou harbor (8.8–9.5 particles/L) sites. In water samples from the three inflowing rivers,
the abundances ranged from2.9 to 4.5 particles/L, which is comparable to that in Maowei Sea surface water.
Of 66 collected fish belonging to 12 species, microplastics were observed in all of the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs)
and in the gills of 40 individuals. In the GIT and gill tests, the abundances of microplastics ranged from2.0 to 14.0
and from0.0 to 8.5 particles/individual, respectively. The enhanced particles/individual figures in the GIT relative
to the gill are particularly noteworthy. Demersal species showed significantly higher abundances of microplastics
than pelagic species (p b 0.05). Microplastics were also detected in the soft tissues of all oyster samples, with
abundances ranging from 3.2 to 8.6 particles/individual. The microplastic composition was dominated by
rayon and polyester and tended to be white in color and fibrous in shape. Altogether, these results correspond to
high levels of microplastics in the Maowei Sea. As the study region is a mariculture bay, the observed
microplastics contamination in its fishery products presents a route for human exposure.
Capsule abstract: Microplastics are widespread in the aquaculture water and biota in the Maowei Sea, a mariculture
bay.
刊物名称: 
Science of the Total Environment
年: 
2019
卷期: 
658
页码: 
62-68
作者: 
Zhu, Jingmin; Zhang, Qiang; Li, Yanping; Tan, Shudan; Kang, Zhenjun; Yu, Xueying; Lan, Wenlu; Cai, Li; Wang, Jingzhen; Shi, Huahong
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