Microplastics in the foreshore coastal waters, sediment, and coastal fauna of a highly populated megacity-A study on the effect of anthropogenic discharge on clams

In this study, the microplastics (MPs) abundance, characteristics and their variations across three popular beaches of highly populated and largest megacity of India were documented using clams as an indicator species. The abundance of MPs in clams was 77.39 MPs items/g in soft tissue parts and 198.82 items/individual, while in coastal waters and sediments the abundance was 537.5 +/- 95 items/L and 10,568.3 +/- 3053.3 items/kg respectively. The observed higher microplastic diversity integrated (MDII) indicates numerous sources contributing to microplastics pollution and higher microplastic index (MPI) indicates greater bioavailability of MPs to clams. The bulk of the microplastics recovered from clams (55.78 %), coastal sediments (52.27 %) and coastal sea waters (54 %) belong to the <100 mu m size range, and were identified as LDPE and polypropylene, polyamide and polystyrene. This investigation tried to validate the potential trophic transfer concerns associated with clam intake to both human health and marine ecology.

Automated summary

This study documented the abundance, characteristics, and variations of microplastics on three popular beaches in a highly populated megacity in India using clams as an indicator species. The results indicate a high abundance of microplastics in clams, coastal waters, and sediments, suggesting potential risks to human health and marine ecology.