MICROPLASTICS AND FISH: DISRUPTIONS IN REPRODUCTION, BEHAVIOR, GROWTH, AND IMMUNE FUNCTION, AND THEIR CASCADING EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMANS

Abstract

Years by year the rate of plastic accumulation in oceans is increasing. Microbiological activity, UV radiation, cooling/heating cycles, and freeze/thaw  cycles all contribute to the deterioration of plastic. Microplastic, nanoplastic, macroplastic, and mesoplastic are the manytypesof plasticthat decompose. Plastic fragments are presenton thesurface, in sediments, and the watercolumn, depending on their density. Fish is essential to a diet because of its high protein content. Fish that consume plankton may absorb microplastic that are connected tothem or pass them off as food. Fish that consume jellyfish might consume plastic because it resemblesthecreatures and floatson thesurface. Filterfeeders also allowfish to drink the water they filter. Both sediments and detritivores fish that consume substrate contain microplastic. The general health of fish is adversely affected by microplastic. Plastic creates digestive problems that result in gastrointestinal blockage, which causes satiation, mortality, and physical deterioration once it enters the body. By changing organismal defense mechanisms, nanoplastics may disrupt innate immune responses in fish populations and function as stressors to fish’ innate immune responses. Micro- and nanoplastics may accumulate in fish gonadal tissues, which can be damaging to reproduction. Fatty vacuolation, single-cell necrosis, and loss of glycogen are symptoms of liver stress in fish exposed to virgin treatments and marine plastic.