title: Ingested microplastics (>100 μm) are translocated to organs of the tropical fiddler crab Uca rapax.
abstract: Microplastics, which are accumulating in marine sediments, are assumed to pose a risk for deposit feeding invertebrates. We tested whether the fiddler crab Uca rapax ingests and retains microplastics in its body. Furthermore, we investigated whether retention rates depend on (a) the quality of the marine environment in which the plastics were pre-weathered and on (b) their abundance. For this, polystyrene pellets were submersed at a polluted and a pristine site near Niterói, Brazil, for 2 weeks. Then specimens of U. rapax were, in laboratory experiments, exposed to fragments (180-250 μm) derived from these pellets for 2 months. After this period, microplastics were observed in the gills, stomach and hepatopancreas of the animals. However, fragment retention was not influenced by the two factors that we manipulated. The presence of microplastics in different organs of the crab supports the assumption that these particles have the potential to harm marine invertebrates.
authors.affiliation: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Marine Ecology, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel 24105, Germany; MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Estação de Biologia Marinha do Funchal, Cais do Carvão 9000-107 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Electronic address: dbrennecke@hotmail.de.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brennecke
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Dinâmica dos Oceanos e da Terra, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av Gen. Milton Tavares de Souza s/n, Praia Vermelha CEP 24210-346, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Erica C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET12-RJ)/Coordenação de Biologia, CEP 20271-110 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tarso M M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology for Natural Scientists, University Medical School Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Brunswiker Str. 10, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Dinâmica dos Oceanos e da Terra, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av Gen. Milton Tavares de Souza s/n, Praia Vermelha CEP 24210-346, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bernardo A P
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: da Gama
authors.affiliation: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Marine Ecology, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel 24105, Germany.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000378:metabolism*; D001938:Brazil; D004777:Environment; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D005880:Gills; D043143:Hepatopancreas; D008297:Male; D010969:Plastics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000378:metabolism; D012758:Shellfish; D013270:Stomach; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D011137:Polystyrenes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Deposit feeder; Hepatopancreas; Microplastics; Pollution; Polystyrene; Uca rapax