Abstract:
The present study investigated the microplastics (MPs) contamination in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, gills and muscle
of the Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus sampled from the Selvampathy Lake of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
MPs abundance was found in 10 to 28, 8 to 27, and 4 to 12 particles and their size ranged between 4.4 and 210, 4.6 to
180, and 4.5 to 194 μm in the GI tract, gills and muscle, respectively. MPs were dominantly shaped as fibres (95%) and
fragments (5%) with the following colour pattern of blue > black > pink > transparent > and others. Extracted MPs
polymer nature were polyethylene (54%), polyamide (38%) and polypropylene (8%). The present study reveals that the
edible fish O. mossambicus had MPs that can be transferred to consumers. Moreover, urban discharges, including domestic
wastes, agricultural and rainwater runoff, might be possible MPs sources to the studied wetland