Occurrence of microdebris in commercial cephalopod

Abstract

Modern Fish Market of Muara Baru is one of the largest fish markets in Jakarta, which sells various seafood, including fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and others. Previous studies have revealed microdebris contamination of mollusks, particularly in filter-feeders. However, it has not been widely studied at the predator level in cephalopods. We aim to investigate contamination of microdebris in two commercial species of cephalopod, i.e. Loliolus sumatrensis and Sepia recurvirostra, from the market. The digestive tract of the cephalopod was taken and dissolved by adding H2O2 50% then filtered under a vacuum system. The particles of microdebris were observed with a stereo microscope then several particles were analyzed using an FTIR microscope. The abundance of microdebris in L. sumatrensis was higher (3.8 particles/individual) than the abundance that of microdebris in S. recurvirostra (2.8 particles/individual). The size of microdebris was dominated by three of five size classes such as 0.1 − 0.5 mm, 0.5 − 1 mm, and 1 − 5 mm. Microdebris in L. sumatrensis was confirmed as polypropylene (PP), a synthetic polymer (microplastic), while in S. recurvirostra was confirmed as rayon (semi-synthetic). This research shows that microdebris contamination has reached the level of a predator in Mollusca.