Microplastics caught in herring gill rakers: illustration by scanning electron microscopy

Plastics are produced in huge quantity (280 million of tons in 2012) and more than 10% end up in the oceans. It is estimated that between 60 and 80% of all marine debris are plastics. Plastics are persistent and have accumulated in the oceans for several decades. Plastics may adverse wildlife in many ways: they can be ingested by marine vertebrates and cause internal wounds in the digestive tract. Plastics are also vectors of organic pollutants including. Once ingested, plastics may release these pollutants in the organism. Plastics present in the marine environment fragment in small pieces by mechanical stress and UV radiation leading to the so-called microplastics smaller than 5 mm. Little is known about microplastics ingestion and toxicity in planktivorous fish such as the herring, Clupea harengus. Planktivorous fish have gill rakers, which may function as a trap for microplastics. This study aims to describe and characterise microplastics present on gill rakers of the herring, Clupea harengus. Ten gill cavities were sampled in January 2013 in the Channel and the North Sea during a fishery campaign organized by the IFREMER. Gills cavities were placed in a fixating solution until preparation for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM was used in order to detect microplastics which are too small to be observed by a dissection microscope, to compare them with the distance between gill rakers and to characterise the surface and the shape of microplastics.
Scanning electron microscopy revealed large variety of microplastics, which lengths ranged from 0.05 to 5mm. Relationship between microplastics length and distance between gill rakers was analysed on the same branchial arch. The present study revealed the presence of microplastics in an edible species of high economic value and raise question about potential impact on the herring and its consumers, including human beings.