Fish ingestion of plastics

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that end up in the ocean. In this study four types of adult fish (Myripristis spp., Siganus spp., Epinephelus merra and Cheilopogon simus) were sampled on the north and east shores of Moorea and dissected for microplastics. Out of 133 fish that the researchers surveyed in Moorea, 28 (21%) had ingested microplastics. Interestingly, the feeding habits of the fish did not seem to affect the number or size of ingested microplastics. The Carnivorous fish Epinephelus merra (honeycomb grouper) had the most ingested microplastics, while the herbivorous fish Siganus spp. (rabbitfish) had the least. How this impacts marine animals is not entirely clear, but could impact digestion and other important processes. This research highlights the prevealance of microplastics in fish and emphasizes the need for further attention to this issue.

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Garnier et al 2019