Sea Turtles
Sea turtles are widely studied for the estimation of adverse effects of the plastic
possess for the sea life. A large number of autopsies and biological samples have
clearly shown that the most common and basic culprits behind stress and nonnatural
death of sea turtles are plastic and tar which are ingested by the living organisms
living in polluted water resources, mainly in oceans. Plastic debris present in water
such as plastic bags, polyethylene terephthalate bottle fragments, and plastic ropes
have been found in turtles’ digestive tract. Studies have also shed light on the
phenomenon that the sea turtles usually mistake polyethylene bags with jelly fish,
which is their natural prey. This misunderstanding leads plastic into the digestive
system of turtles, which ultimately counts for the death (Sigler 2014).
The international union for conservation of nature has placed leather back sea
turtles on its critically endangered organisms list because of a sharp reduction in its
population over the last two decades. In a research, autopsies were conducted on
leatherback turtles which showed that out of 371 turtles that were collected from
their natural habitat sites 137 had plastic in their alimentary canal but it was not
confirmed beyond doubt that the ingested plastic was the sole cause of death or were
there any other factors involved. It has been evaluated through studies that 8.7% of
the turtles that died due to plastic pollution had a plastic or polyethylene bag
blocking the esophagus and preventing the food passage to stomach which eventually resulted in the death (Vegter et al. 2014) Apart from the treats possessed to sea
life, a sharp reduction has been seen in the reproduction of these animals. Some
studies on female turtles have clearly shown plastic to block the passage of female
eggs. Researchers have isolated and recovered 14 different types of plastic pieces
from a turtle female cloaca which eventually resulted and enabled it to lay the eggs
(Sigler 2014).
Fish
Different species of fish like Squalus acanthias, Mullus barbatus, Chelidonichthys
lucerna, and Sardina pilchardus have been studied by Avio et al. 2017 to evaluate
and discover the presence of microplastics in their bodies, the results were positive
for all these species. Polyethylene particles constituted 65% of the total plastics in
their stomachs. Mrowiec 2017 showed that in the gastrointestinal tracts of 504 fish
that were studied in an experiment, 36.5% had plastic pieces in their stomachs. Data
collected as a result of studies conducted in the North Pacific region of central Gyre
gathered some results according to which almost 38% of nearly 700 fish tested had a
sum of 1380 plastic particles in their body tissue and stomachs, which means that
each fish had an average of 2.5 plastic pieces. It should be noted here that most of the
plastic pieces ingested by fish had colors white, blue, or transparent nature as
exhibited by plankton, this causes a misinterpretation to fish whose primary food
source is planktons. Knowledge about the effects of plastics eaten and ingested by
100
F. Muneer et al.
Sea turtles are widely studied for the estimation of adverse effects of the plastic
possess for the sea life. A large number of autopsies and biological samples have
clearly shown that the most common and basic culprits behind stress and nonnatural
death of sea turtles are plastic and tar which are ingested by the living organisms
living in polluted water resources, mainly in oceans. Plastic debris present in water
such as plastic bags, polyethylene terephthalate bottle fragments, and plastic ropes
have been found in turtles’ digestive tract. Studies have also shed light on the
phenomenon that the sea turtles usually mistake polyethylene bags with jelly fish,
which is their natural prey. This misunderstanding leads plastic into the digestive
system of turtles, which ultimately counts for the death (Sigler 2014).
The international union for conservation of nature has placed leather back sea
turtles on its critically endangered organisms list because of a sharp reduction in its
population over the last two decades. In a research, autopsies were conducted on
leatherback turtles which showed that out of 371 turtles that were collected from
their natural habitat sites 137 had plastic in their alimentary canal but it was not
confirmed beyond doubt that the ingested plastic was the sole cause of death or were
there any other factors involved. It has been evaluated through studies that 8.7% of
the turtles that died due to plastic pollution had a plastic or polyethylene bag
blocking the esophagus and preventing the food passage to stomach which eventually resulted in the death (Vegter et al. 2014) Apart from the treats possessed to sea
life, a sharp reduction has been seen in the reproduction of these animals. Some
studies on female turtles have clearly shown plastic to block the passage of female
eggs. Researchers have isolated and recovered 14 different types of plastic pieces
from a turtle female cloaca which eventually resulted and enabled it to lay the eggs
(Sigler 2014).
Fish
Different species of fish like Squalus acanthias, Mullus barbatus, Chelidonichthys
lucerna, and Sardina pilchardus have been studied by Avio et al. 2017 to evaluate
and discover the presence of microplastics in their bodies, the results were positive
for all these species. Polyethylene particles constituted 65% of the total plastics in
their stomachs. Mrowiec 2017 showed that in the gastrointestinal tracts of 504 fish
that were studied in an experiment, 36.5% had plastic pieces in their stomachs. Data
collected as a result of studies conducted in the North Pacific region of central Gyre
gathered some results according to which almost 38% of nearly 700 fish tested had a
sum of 1380 plastic particles in their body tissue and stomachs, which means that
each fish had an average of 2.5 plastic pieces. It should be noted here that most of the
plastic pieces ingested by fish had colors white, blue, or transparent nature as
exhibited by plankton, this causes a misinterpretation to fish whose primary food
source is planktons. Knowledge about the effects of plastics eaten and ingested by
100
F. Muneer et al.