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Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Presence and abundance of microplastics in edible freshwater mussel (Batissa violacea) on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu

Eduardo E. Barrientos A B , Andrew Paris https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7256-1099 A , David Rohindra A and Ciro Rico https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0822-336X C *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Oceans and Natural Sciences, The University of the South Pacific, Laucala Bay, Suva, Fiji.

B Science Department, Faculty of Science & Technology, University of Belize, Central Campus, Belmopan, Belize.

C Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (ICMAN), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Campus Universitario Río San Pedro, E-11510 Puerto Real (Cádiz), Spain.

* Correspondence to: ciro.rico@csic.es

Handling Editor: Donald Baird

Marine and Freshwater Research 73(4) 528-539 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21223
Submitted: 4 August 2021  Accepted: 6 January 2022   Published: 7 February 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Abstract

The abundance and identification of microplastics were investigated for the first time in the gills and soft tissues of freshwater mussels (Batissa violacea) harvested from five rivers in Fiji. Microplastics were found in 100% of the mussels sampled from all the rivers. The average site concentration varied from 2.78 ± 0.40 to 6.84 ± 0.89 microplastics per gram of dry weight. The overall average concentration was 5.93 ± 0.39 microplastics per mussel. This is concerning because these mussels, commonly known as kai, are an important source of protein and income for many people. Microplastic concentration in mussels was significantly dependent on sampled location but evenly distributed among tissues. The dominant size of microplastics was <0.4 mm, representing 52 and 50% of all microplastic in gills and soft tissue respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR) was used for polymer identification of the isolated microplastics. Nylon was the most dominant type of polymer followed by polyolefins. Freshwater mussels in Fiji are an important component of the artisanal fishery, the diet of local communities and an emerging export commodity. These results showed that freshwater mussels are ingesting microplastics in their natural environment and, thus, they represent a potential health problem for human consumption.

Keywords: aquatic pollution, Batissa violacea, Fiji, GESA microplastics, infrared spectrophotometry, microplastics, plastics, plastic pollution.


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