Volume 69

Microdebris Ingestion by Sargassum-associated Fishes in the Northern Gulf of Mexico


Authors
Hernandez, F., P.Vick, S. Muffelman, and O. Lestrade
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Date: November, 2016


Pages: 94 - 95


Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute


City: Grand Cayman


Country: Cayman Islands

Abstract

Pelagic Sargassum (S. natans and S. fluitans) is a macroalgal complex found in surface waters of the Western-Central Atlantic Ocean, and more recently high Sargassum biomass has been observed in the Caribbean (Wang and Hu 2016). Because Sargassum is a neustonic habitat, it is subject to oceanographic processes that aggregate floating objects, including marine debris. Indeed, the first mention of microplastics in the marine environment was reported from the Sargasso Sea in association with floating Sargassum (Carpenter and Smith 1972). Many early life stages of fishes use Sargassum as nursery areas (Rooker et al. 2006), but little is known about the impacts of marine debris or microplastics within Sargassum communities. Here we present results from a pilot study examining the frequency of microdebris occurrence in the stomachs of Sargassum-associated fishes.

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