Effective and easy to use extraction method shows low numbers of microplastics in offshore planktivorous fish from the northern Baltic Sea

Stjepan Budimir; Outi Setälä; Maiju Lehtiniemi

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.054

Effective and easy to use extraction method shows low numbers of microplastics in offshore planktivorous fish from the northern Baltic Sea

Mar Pollut Bull. 2018 Feb:127:586-592. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.054. Epub 2017 Dec 28.

Authors

Stjepan Budimir¹, Outi Setälä², Maiju Lehtiniemi²

Affiliations

¹ Finnish Environment Institute, Marine Research Centre, P.O. Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: s.budimir.marbio@gmail.com.
² Finnish Environment Institute, Marine Research Centre, P.O. Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland.

PMID: 29475701
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.054

Abstract

Although the presence of microplastics in marine biota has been widely recorded, extraction methods, method validation and approaches to monitoring are not standardized. In this study a method for microplastic extraction from fish guts based on a chemical alkaline digestion is presented. The average particle retrieval rate from spiked fish guts, used for method validation, was 84%. The weight and shape of the test particles (PET, PC, HD-PE) were also analysed with no noticeable changes in any particle shapes and only minor weight change in PET (2.63%). Microplastics were found in 1.8% of herrings (n=164) and in 0.9% of sprat (n=154). None of the three-spined sticklebacks (n=355) contained microplastic particles.

Keywords: Herring; Ingestion; Monitoring; NaOH; SDS; Sprat.

MeSH terms

Animals
Chemical Fractionation / methods*
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Finland
Fishes*
Gastrointestinal Contents / chemistry*
Oceans and Seas
Plastics / analysis*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Plastics
Water Pollutants, Chemical