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First insight into plastics ingestion by fish in the Gulf of California, Mexico
Salazar-Pérez, C.; Amezcua, F.; Rosales-Valencia, A.; Green, L.; Pollorena-Melendrez, J.E.; Sarmiento-Martínez, M.A.; Tomita Ramírez, I.; Gil-Manrique, B.D.; Hernandez-Lozano, M.Y.; Muro-Torres, V.M.; Green-Ruiz, C.; Piñon-Colin, T.D.J.; Wakida, F.T.; Barletta, M. (2021). First insight into plastics ingestion by fish in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 171: 112705. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112705
In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keyword
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Estuarine ecology; Feeding habits; Marine litter; Small scale fisheries; Plastic pollution

Authors  Top 
  • Salazar-Pérez, C.
  • Amezcua, F.
  • Rosales-Valencia, A.
  • Green, L., more
  • Pollorena-Melendrez, J.E.
  • Sarmiento-Martínez, M.A.
  • Tomita Ramírez, I.
  • Gil-Manrique, B.D.
  • Hernandez-Lozano, M.Y.
  • Muro-Torres, V.M.
  • Green-Ruiz, C.
  • Piñon-Colin, T.D.J.
  • Wakida, F.T.
  • Barletta, M.

Abstract
    Plastic particle occurrence in the digestive tracts of fishes from a tropical estuarine system in the Gulf of California was investigated. A total of 1095 fish were analysed, representing 15 species. In total 1384 particles of plastic debris were recovered from the gastrointestinal tracts of 552 specimens belonging to 13 species, and all consisted of threads, the majority of which were small microplastics (0.23 to 1.89), followed by large microplastics (2.07 to 4.49), and few mesoplastics (5.4 to 19.86). Plastic particles were identified using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The mean frequency of occurrence of plastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of fishes from this system was 50.5%, which is higher than frequencies reported in similar systems in other areas. The polymers identified by ATR-FTIR were polyamide (51.2%), polyethylene (36.6%), polypropylene (7.3%), and polyacrylic (4.9%). These results show the first evidence of plastic contamination for estuarine biota in the Gulf of California.

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