Abstract
Two experiments were executed to assess the feasibility of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) transfer to fish tissues via MPs as a vector. PCBs that occur in the marine environment were tested for their adsorption to four different MP types. PCB congeners showed the highest adsorption levels to Polypropylene homo-polymer. The uptake of PCBs through MP ingestion was tested in an outdoor mesocosm using the herbivorous rabbitfish, Siganus rivulatus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Polypropylene homo-polymer particles (0.3–5.0 mm) pre saturated with 11 PCB congeners, in two concentrations (500 ng/g and 5000 ng/g), were mixed with dough and offered to the fish. PCBs were identified after two weeks in fish muscle tissues, but not in the liver. These results suggest that ingestion of contaminated MP by rabbitfish might harm them in the long run, and perhaps even those who consume them on a regular basis, e.g. rabbitfish predators and humans.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 110697 |
Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
Volume | 150 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr Philip Nemoy, University of Haifa, who shared his ideas and thoughts throughout the study and helped us capture the fish that were used in the feeding experiments. We would also like to thank Mrs Edith Leibovich, IOLR, who assisted us in the laboratory with grace and kindness. This study would not have been the same without the kind help and support of both Philip and Edith. Moreover, we would like to thank Mr. Avi Levi who assisted us in the preparation of the samples, and Dr. Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto, Canada, who gave her kind feedback on a previous draft of this manuscript. We also acknowledge support from the EU H2020 Go Jelly project (no. 774499) and the generous support provided to Noam Van der Hal by the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel and the Sir Maurice and Lady Irene Hatter Fellowships in Maritime Studies.
Funding Information:
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr Philip Nemoy, University of Haifa, who shared his ideas and thoughts throughout the study and helped us capture the fish that were used in the feeding experiments. We would also like to thank Mrs Edith Leibovich, IOLR, who assisted us in the laboratory with grace and kindness. This study would not have been the same without the kind help and support of both Philip and Edith. Moreover, we would like to thank Mr. Avi Levi who assisted us in the preparation of the samples, and Dr. Chelsea Rochman, University of Toronto, Canada, who gave her kind feedback on a previous draft of this manuscript. We also acknowledge support from the EU H2020 Go Jelly project (no. 774499 ) and the generous support provided to Noam Van der Hal by the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel and the Sir Maurice and Lady Irene Hatter Fellowships in Maritime Studies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords
- Contamination
- Eastern Mediterranean sea
- Mesocosm
- Microplastics
- PCBs
- Siganus rivulatus
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oceanography
- Aquatic Science
- Pollution