Microplastic in the stomachs of open-ocean and deep-sea fishes of the North-East Atlantic

Abstract

The presence of microplastic in marine fishes has been well documented but few studies have directly examined differences between fishes occupying contrasting environmental compartments. In the present study, we investigated the gut contents of 390 fishes belonging to three pelagic (blue jack mackerel, chub mackerel, skipjack tuna) and two deep-sea species (blackbelly rosefish, blackspot seabream) from the Azores archipelago, North-East Atlantic for microplastic contamination. Our results revealed that pelagic species had significantly more microplastic than the deep-water species. In all of the species studied, fragments were the most common plastic shape recovered and we found a significant difference in the type of polymer between the pelagic and deep-water species. In deep-sea fish we found almost exclusively polypropylene, whereas in the pelagic fish, polyethylene was the most abundant polymer type. Overall, the proportion of fish containing plastic items varied across our study species from 3.7% to 16.7% of individuals sampled, and the average abundance of plastic items ranged from 0.04 to 0.22 per individual (the maximum was 4 items recovered in one stomach). Despite the proximity of the Azores archipelago to the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, a region of elevated plastic abundance, the proportion of individuals containing plastic (9.49%) were comparable with data reported elsewhere.