Microplastics in Different Tissues of a Commonly Consumed Fish, <i>Scomberomorus guttatus,</i> from a Large Subtropical Estuary: Accumulation, Characterization, and Contamination Assessment
Mohammad Belal Hossain,
Farjana Haque Pingki,
Md. Abdus Samad Azad,
As-Ad Ujjaman Nur,
Partho Banik,
Bilal Ahamad Paray,
Takaomi Arai,
Jimmy Yu
Affiliations
Mohammad Belal Hossain
School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Farjana Haque Pingki
Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Md. Abdus Samad Azad
Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
As-Ad Ujjaman Nur
Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Partho Banik
Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh
Bilal Ahamad Paray
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Takaomi Arai
Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, University Brunei Darussalam, Jala Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
Jimmy Yu
School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Microplastics (MPs) ingestion by fish signifies a worldwide threat to human health but limited research has examined their existence within the consumable portions (muscle) of fish. Thus, this study was undertaken to unveil the prevalence, characterization, and contamination extent of MPs across various body tissues, including the muscle of the king mackerel (S. guttatus) from the lower Meghna estuary in Bangladesh—a pioneering investigation in this region. In our analysis, we identified a total of 487 MPs, with an average abundance of 48.7 ± 20.3 MPs/individual. These MPs were distributed across different tissues, with respective concentrations of 0.84 ± 0.45 items/g in the digestive tract, 2.56 ± 0.73 items/g in the gills, and 0.3 ± 1.72 items/g in the muscle tissue. The observed variations among these tissue types were statistically significant (p 1) indicated a high contamination level for MPs pollution of S. guttatus in the lower Meghna River estuary.
