The uptake of macroplastic & microplastic by demersal & pelagic fish in the Northeast Atlantic around Scotland

Fionn Murphy, Marie Russell, Ciaran Ewins, Brian Quinn

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164 Citations (Scopus)
361 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study reports plastic ingestion in various fish found from coastal and offshore sites in Scottish marine waters. Coastal samples consisted of three demersal flatfish species (n = 128) collected from the East and West coasts of Scotland. Offshore samples consisted of 5 pelagic species and 4 demersal species (n = 84) collected from the Northeast Atlantic. From the coastal fish sampled, 47.7% of the gastrointestinal tracts contained macroplastic and microplastic. Of the 84 pelagic and demersal offshore fish, only 2 (2.4%) individuals from different species had ingested plastic identified as a clear polystyrene fibre and a black polyamide fibre. The average number of plastic items found per fish from all locations that had ingested plastic was 1.8 (±1.7) with polyamide (65.3%), polyethylene terephthalate (14.4%) and acrylic (14.4%) being the three most commonly found plastics. This study adds to the existing data on macroplastic and microplastic ingestion in fish species.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)353-359
Number of pages7
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume122
Early online date10 Jul 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2017

Keywords

  • Macroplastic
  • Microplastic
  • Fish
  • Ingestion
  • Northeast Atlantic

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