Elder Fish Means More Microplastics? Alaska Pollock Microplastic Story in the Bering Sea

Overview

Journal Sci Adv

Specialties Biology
Science

Date 2023 Jul 7

PMID 37418528

Authors

Jinfeng Ding

Peng Ju

Quan Ran

Jingxi Li

Fenghua Jiang

Wei Cao

Jie Zhang

Chengjun Sun

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Marine microplastics are an increasingly big concern. We analyze the occurrence of microplastics in Alaska pollock () across 2+ to 12+ ages sampled from the Bering Sea. Results show that 85% of the fish have ingested microplastics and elder fish ingest more with over a third of microplastics in the 100- to 500-micrometer size range, indicating the prevalence of microplastics in Alaska pollock distributed in the Bering Sea. A positive linear relationship is obtained between fish age and microplastic size. Meanwhile, the number of polymer types increases in elder fish. The link between microplastic characteristics in Alaska pollock and the surrounding seawater suggests an extended spatial impact of microplastics. The impact of age-related microplastic ingestion on the population quality of Alaska pollock is still unknown. Therefore, we need to further investigate the potential impact of microplastics on marine organisms and the marine ecosystem, taking age as an important factor.

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