The First Evidence of Microplastics Occurrence in Greater Pipefish (Syngnathus acus Linnaetabus, 1758) in the Black Sea
TURKISH JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES, cilt.23, sa.9, ss.1-5, 2023 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 23 Sayı: 9
- Basım Tarihi: 2023
- Dergi Adı: TURKISH JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-5
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Microplastics (MPs) occurrence in greater pipefish Syngnathus acus was assessed in
the Black Sea for the first time. MPs were found in 21 % of total pipefish examined.
MPs were mainly fibres in shape (89 %), black in colour (52 %) and 0.2- 1 mm (52 %) in
size. The mean MP concentration was 0.30 mp. fish-1 (considering all the fish analysed)
and was 1.38 mp. fish-1 (considering the fish that ingested them). The frequency of
MP occurrence in male pipefish was higher (23.5 %) compared to females (20.7%) and
immatures (16.7 %). 91.7 % of the polymers found were synthetic with the
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (29%) being the most common polymers. FTIR
spectroscopy also confirmed the presence of the plastic-related compounds, butyl
stearate (BS) and glyceraldehyde unnatural form (GA) in the analysed samples. Our
results show that S. acus, which is an ecologically important demersal fish, is
contaminated by MPs in the Black Sea and that there is an urgent assessment to better
understand the environmental fate of MPs in the Black Sea and taking necessity
measures to reduce the amount of plastics entering this basin.