TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic ingestion and trophic transfer between Easter Island flying fish (Cheilopogon rapanouiensis) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
AU - Chagnon, Catherine
AU - Thiel, Martin
AU - Antunes, Joana
AU - Ferreira, Joana Lia
AU - Sobral, Paula
AU - Ory, Nicolas Christian
N1 - info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/5876/147321/PT#
Sem PDFconforme despacho.
postdoctoral FONDECYT grant from the Chilean Ministry of Education (3150636)
"The Future Ocean" Cluster of Excellence (D21/18)
JPIOceans BASEMAN project (JPIOCEANS/0001/2015)
SFRH/BSAB/113789/2015
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Millimetre-sized fragments have been documented in many fish species, but their transfer through food webs is still poorly understood. Here we quantified and described plastic fragments in the digestive tracts of 43 Easter Island flying fish (Cheilopogon rapanouiensis) and 50 yellowfin tunas (Thunnus albacares) from coastal waters around Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the South Pacific subtropical gyre, and of fish preyed upon by T. albacares. Overall, seven C. rapanouiensis (16%) individuals had ingested microplastics, most of which resembled the common planktonic prey of the fish. One microplastic was found in the gut of a fish ingested by a tuna, which indicates that trophic transfer may occur between tuna and prey. A single T. albacares (2%) had ingested five mesoplastics (15.2–26.3 mm) that were probably not mistaken for prey items, but rather accidentally ingested during foraging on fish prey. The absence of microplastics in T. albacares suggests that such small particles, if transferred from the prey, do not accumulate in the relatively large digestive tract of large predators. On the other hand, larger plastic items may accumulate in the gut of tunas, to which they may induce deleterious effects that still need to be examined. However, only a small portion of the fish had ingested mesoplastics. The results of this study suggest that microplastic contamination is not an immediate threat to large predatory fish, such as T. albacares, along the coast of Easter Island within the South Pacific subtropical gyre. Microplastics may be transferred from fish prey to their predators, but do not remain in the predators’ guts. Mesoplastics may accumulate in the guts of large predators, but are only ingested by few fish.
AB - Millimetre-sized fragments have been documented in many fish species, but their transfer through food webs is still poorly understood. Here we quantified and described plastic fragments in the digestive tracts of 43 Easter Island flying fish (Cheilopogon rapanouiensis) and 50 yellowfin tunas (Thunnus albacares) from coastal waters around Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the South Pacific subtropical gyre, and of fish preyed upon by T. albacares. Overall, seven C. rapanouiensis (16%) individuals had ingested microplastics, most of which resembled the common planktonic prey of the fish. One microplastic was found in the gut of a fish ingested by a tuna, which indicates that trophic transfer may occur between tuna and prey. A single T. albacares (2%) had ingested five mesoplastics (15.2–26.3 mm) that were probably not mistaken for prey items, but rather accidentally ingested during foraging on fish prey. The absence of microplastics in T. albacares suggests that such small particles, if transferred from the prey, do not accumulate in the relatively large digestive tract of large predators. On the other hand, larger plastic items may accumulate in the gut of tunas, to which they may induce deleterious effects that still need to be examined. However, only a small portion of the fish had ingested mesoplastics. The results of this study suggest that microplastic contamination is not an immediate threat to large predatory fish, such as T. albacares, along the coast of Easter Island within the South Pacific subtropical gyre. Microplastics may be transferred from fish prey to their predators, but do not remain in the predators’ guts. Mesoplastics may accumulate in the guts of large predators, but are only ingested by few fish.
KW - Mesoplastics ingestion
KW - Microplastic ingestion
KW - Planktivorous fish
KW - Predatory fish
KW - South Pacific subtropical gyre
KW - Trophic transfer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052431450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.08.042
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.08.042
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052431450
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 243
SP - 127
EP - 133
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
ER -