Quantitative and qualitative determination of microplastics in oyster, seawater and sediment from the coastal areas in Zhuhai, China

Abstract

Microplastics as a new class of environmental contaminants have become the hot issue of global concern. We conducted quantitative and qualitative experiments to investigate microplastics in oyster, seawater and sediment along the Zhuhai coastline. The soft tissues of oysters were digested with potassium hydroxide (10%) and hydrogen peroxide (30%), seawaters and sediments with hydrogen peroxide (30%) to degrade organic matter, and analyzed using a digital camera, optical microscopy and micro-ATR-FTIR. The abundance of microplastics were in the range of 0.14–7.90 n/g in oysters (wet weight), 10.00–27.50 n/L in seawaters and 0.053–0.26 n/g in sediments. The fiber and fragment shape, black color, 101–500 μm of size and polyethylene composition were all classified as the major constituents of microplastics. The level of contaminants in oysters was correlated to those in their surrounding environments. Therefore, oysters may serve as a promising sentinel species for the indication of microplastic pollution in the coastal zone of Zhuhai.