Microplastic contamination in Corpus Christi Bay blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus

Microplastic pollution has been observed in marine environments around the world and has the potential to negatively impact marine organisms when ingested. One organism of particular concern is the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, whose feeding strategies increase their likelihood of exposure to plastic pollution. To assess microplastic contamination in blue crabs, 39 individuals were collected from Corpus Christi Bay, TX and processed using a hydrogen-peroxide based tissue destruction method followed by confirmation using micro-attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (µ-FTIR). From the 39 blue crabs sampled, 28 fully synthetic fragments and fibers and 24 semi-synthetic fibers were found within their stomachs. After correcting for possible contamination, 36% of collected blue crabs were estimated to contain 20 synthetic fragments and fibers and 14 semi-synthetic fibers (0.87 items crab-1). This study shows that blue crabs ingest microplastic items in Corpus C...