Incidência de microplásticos em Anomalocardia brasiliana no estuário de Itapessoca em Goiana, Pernambuco

Abstract

Plastic pollution and its impacts on marine environments have been studied frequently over the years, and more specifically, microplastics have proved to be a problem of unknown proportions, being present in all environments in different ways. Thus, several studies have been carried out in order to monitor the levels of pollution by microscopic plastic particles in marine environments and bivalve molluscs such as oysters, mussels and shellfishes have been used in different parts of the world and have proven to be efficient as sentinel organisms from pollution by microplastics. In this dissertation work the species of bivalve mollusc analyzed was Anomalocardia brasiliana, a species of bivalve mollusc that occurs along the entire coast of Brazil. 90% of the individuals analyzed presented contamination by microplastics and an average of 5.15±3.80 particles of microplastics per individual, it is also estimated that for each gram of soft tissue of A. brasiliana there is an average of 3.66 ±2.59 microplastic particles. It can be concluded that shellfish of the species A. brasilinana are suitable for monitoring the levels of pollution by microplastics both on the coast of the state of Pernambuco and in other places in the Brazilian coast where the species occurs.