Microplastics in Different Tissues of a Commonly Consumed Fish, Scomberomorus guttatus, 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

doi:10.3390/biology12111422

Microplastics in Different Tissues of a Commonly Consumed Fish, Scomberomorus guttatus, from a Large Subtropical Estuary: Accumulation, Characterization, and Contamination Assessment

Biology (Basel). 2023 Nov 12;12(11):1422. doi: 10.3390/biology12111422.

Authors

Mohammad Belal Hossain^{1

2}, Farjana Haque Pingki², Md Abdus Samad Azad³, As-Ad Ujjaman Nur², Partho Banik², Bilal Ahamad Paray⁴, Takaomi Arai⁵, Jimmy Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia.
² Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Environmental and Life Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, University Brunei Darussalam, Jala Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam.

Abstract

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 < 0.05). Moreover, a significant positive correlation indicated that fish with higher weight had higher MPs in their gills and DT (digestive tract). The majority were <0.5 mm in size (97.74%) and exhibited a fiber-like shape (97.74%), with a notable prevalence of transparent (25.87%) and a pink coloration (27.92%). Remarkably, the majority of MPs were discovered within the size range of <0.5-1 mm (100%), particularly in the muscle tissue, signifying a substantial transfer of MPs into the human diet. Besides, we discovered only three polymer types of microplastics which could be attributed to the extensive use of food packaging, plastic containers, wrapping plastics, residential garbage, and plastic pipes that end up in the aquatic environment via river discharges. The contamination factor (CF) values of fish muscle (5.75) and the digestive tract (5.50) indicated that these fish organs were considerably contaminated (3 < CF < 6) with MPs. The pollution index of MPs (PLI > 1) indicated a high contamination level for MPs pollution of S. guttatus in the lower Meghna River estuary.

Keywords: Bangladesh; bioaccumulation; contamination; estuarine fish; king mackerel; microplastics; polymers.

Grants and funding

RSP2023R144/King Saud University