Microplastic pollution in seawater and marine organisms across the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Galapagos

Detection of plastic debris degrading into micro particles across all oceanic environments and inside of marine organisms is no longer surprising news. Microplastic contamination now appears as one of the world's environmental main concerns. To determine the levels of microplastic pollution at sea, water samples were collected across a 4000 km-trajectory in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and the Galapagos archipelago, covering an area of 453,000 square kilometres. Furthermore, 240 specimens of 16 different species of fish, squid, and shrimp, all of human consumption, were collected along the continental coast. Microplastic particles were found in 100% of the water samples and marine organisms. Microplastic particles ranging from 150 to 500 mu m in size were the most predominant. This is one of the first reports simultaneously detecting and quantifying microplastic particles abundance and their impact on marine organisms of this region.

Automated summary

The research found a significant presence of microplastic pollution in both water samples and marine organisms in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and the Galapagos archipelago, with particles ranging from 150 to 500 μm in size being the most common. This study represents one of the first reports to simultaneously detect and quantify the abundance of microplastic particles and their impact on marine organisms in this region.