Occurrence and abundance of plastic particles in razor moonfish along the eastern Arabian Sea

Abstract

Rising crisis in marine environment is the presence of plastics in the water column and risk of their input and accumulation in the food web. The present study reports for the first time, the presence of micro and macro plastics in the gut of razor moonfish, Mene maculata. Moonfish plays a major role in the marine food web as prey of large pelagic fishes. The gut analysis of fishes collected from commercial vessels operating along eastern Arabian Sea was analysed to determine the occurrence and abundance of plastic particles with attempt to identify the diet component which might have contributed to the plastic intake in fish. The analysis revealed dominance of plastic particles in gut when dietary component was dominated by eggs. The present study forms baseline information for plastic accumulations in fishes along the eastern Arabian Sea