Evaluation of Microplastic Contamination in Commercially Edible Fresh Water and Marine Fishes Bought from Fish Markets, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

Microplastics have become ubiquitous in aquatic environments worldwide, that there is rising worry about their potential influence on aquatic biota. Data demonstrate widespread plastic contamination in coastal regions all over the world; however, no quantitative studies on the ingestion of microplastics by commercial fish bought from Fish markets which belong to Fresh water and Marine environments have been conducted so far. In this work, we looked at the presence and their quantity, features, species - specificity distribution of microplastics in ten commercial fish species among which five species belong to Freshwater habitat and five species belong to marine habitat. Two Hundred fish samples were collected from four different sampling locations (Kallanai, Cauvery paalam fish market, Gandhi Fish Market, Vengur Fish Market). The average abundance of microplastics in commercial fish gastrointestinal tracts was 5mg/species of fish, indicating possible food safety. The majority of microplastics were fragment type with a diameter of less than 5mm. The study findings demonstrate the prevalence of microplastics in fish and pave the path for future research to better elucidate the mechanisms driving the incidence of microplastics in fishes along with possible risk assessment.