Anales Instituto (Chile), 2017. Vol. 45(3):59-65 59

First record of microplastics in stomach content of the southern santolla (: Lithodidae), Nassau bay, Cape Horn, Chile

Primer registro de microplásticos en contenido estomacal de centolla Lithodes santolla (Anomura: Lithodidae), bahía Nassau, Cabo de Hornos, Chile Claudia Andrade1 & Fernanda Ovando1

Abstract contaminación plástica, Subantártica. This study reports the first record of microplastics in the stomach contents of the king crab Lithodes INTRODUCTION santolla. Samples were collected in Nassau Bay during September 2017. Plastics ingested Plastic debris have become a global problem belonged to small microplastics between 3.0 and in all marine ecosystems since it is widespread more than 20 mm long having mainly blue color. in the water column and seabed. In fact, plastic Their frequency of occurrence in stomachs was debris may have adverse ecological impacts on 27%. The microplastic ingestion by L. santolla marine biota as in the bio-magnification when may present not only a risk for the self, enter marine food web (Thompson et al. 2004; also for other trophic levels in the food web. Teuten et al. 2007; Barnes et al. 2009; Andrady, 2011). Therefore, significant concern exists due Key Words: increasing of micro-, meso- and macro- plastic plastic fibers, , ingestion, marine marine litter (Hidalgo-Ruz et al. 2012), which pollution, Subantarctic. comprise many products of degradation of larger plastic debris into smaller fragments, or originate Resumen from synthetic fabrics clothing such as fibers El presente estudio reporta por primera vez la (Thompson et al. 2004; Andrady, 2011; Cole et presencia de microplásticos en los estómagos del al. 2011). In this sense, several definitions are used crustáceo comercial centolla Lithodes santolla. Las to define plastic pollution, but the most commonly muestras fueron colectadas en septiembre de 2017, used is that microplastics are plastic particles en el sector de bahía Nassau, en el archipiélago de smaller than 5 mm diameter (Arthur et al. 2009); Cabo de Hornos, Chile. Los plásticos ingeridos such as fibers of polyester, nylon, polyethylene, corresponden a pequeñas fibras microplásticas entre polypropylene and their persistence in the 3 y más de 20 mm de longitud, los cuales tienen marine environment take long periods of time una coloración principalmente azul. Su frecuencia to degrade (Hopewell et al. 2009). For instance, de ocurrencia en los estómagos fue de un 27%. several marine organisms may ingest accidentally La ingestión de microplásticos podría representar these microplastics in the natural environment un riesgo para la especie como también para otros which can cause internal damage due ingestion, organismos predadores de L. santolla y así afectando a toda la trama trófica marina. 1 Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. Palabras Clave: [email protected] fibras plásticas, crustacea, ingestión,

Received: Dic. 14, 2017 Accepted: Dic. 22, 2017 60 C. ANDRADE & F. OVANDO

Fig. 1. Location map of study area showing sites of collecting Lithodes santolla samples. poisoning due harmful chemicals, reducing their Lithodes santolla were collected in September fitness and increasing mortality, entanglement, 2017 by trap gears in Nassau Bay (55°41.67´S; among other effects (e.g., Anderson et al. 2016; 67°66.67´W), south of Navarino Island and north Vermaire et al. 2017). of Chile Cape Horn (Fig. 1). The traps were Despite the economic and ecological disposed randomly between 40 and 60 meters importance of the southern king crab Lithodes water depth with bait inside. santolla (Molina, 1782) as the most important decapod crab for fishery in Chilean/Argentinian Work at sea Patagonia (Lovrich, 1997; Vinuesa et al. 2013), investigation of potential plastic ingestion and The carapace length and width (mm) were their negative impacts on marine biota in the registered and crabs were classified as the sexes Subantarctic Magellan region is unknown. of the individuals were determined by external In this context, the aim of this study was morphological following Stevens & Jewett (2014) provide empirical evidence of microplastic and Lovrich and Vinuesa (2016). The wet weight occurrence in the stomach content of Lithodes was recorded to the nearest 0.01 g of each santolla. specimen. Then, stomach of each specimen were extracted and fixed in a 10% formaldehyde-sea MATERIAL AND METHODS water solution.

Sample collection Laboratory work

Thirty specimens of the southern king crab The stomach samples were transported to the FIRST RECORD OF MICROPLASTICS IN STOMACH CONTENT OF THE LITHODES SANTOLLA 61

Fig. 2. Images of plastic fibers found in the stomach content of the southern King crab Lithodes santolla, where (a) correspond to the specimen N°1, (b) specimen N°3, (c), (d) and (e) specimen N°11, (f) specimen N°19, (g) specimen N°24 and (h) specimen N°27. Scale bar= 1 mm. laboratory (Instituto de la Patagonia; University length of the fiber may be underestimated due to de Magallanes). In laboratory, all the stomach the particular difficulty of disentangling the mass contents were examined under stereoscopic of fiber (Fig. 2). Most of the fibers were detected microscope. The microplastic fragments were in male individuals than females but with similar sorting from the remaining biological stomach carapace size measurements (see Table 1). content. The characteristic of the microplastic Shape of plastics varied from short to fragments were determined according to the elongated fiber, or even a mass of fiber (Fig. color, amount and size for each observation. 2). In addition, differences in colors of plastic The biological stomach content will be report fibers were observed (Fig. 3), in which blue separately in other publication. colors seem to be dominant in males but not for females, where red and transparent fibers were RESULTS dominant.

Based on gut content analysis, 27% of DISCUSION AND CONCLUSIONS individuals (8 specimens) had ingested between 1 and 3 pieces of microplastic (see Table 1), with Our current observations clearly show the the majority being fibers, which are a subcategory southern king crab Lithodes santolla is ingesting of microplastics. The range of lengths was 3 microplastics in their natural environment and thus (specimen N° 11) to more then 20 mm (specimen demonstrates that plastics has already entered N°27); however, in the specimen N°27 the magellanic marine waters. This is surprisingly, due 62 C. ANDRADE & F. OVANDO

Fig. 3. Closer inspection of the revealed presence of plastic fibers in the gut content ofLithodes santolla, (a) specimen N° 6 and (b) specimen N° 10. that Nassau Bay is a remote area, inside a one of the plastic contamination in Nephrops norvegicus the pristine regions in the world with the lowest (decapods crustacean) has showed that the filaments human population densities in Chile (˂ 5 people / are unable to pass through the gastric mill system km2; Mittermeier et al. 2002). and the filament are unable to be excrete (Murray The probable origin and transport of plastic & Cowie, 2011). A wide range of the effects of waste to the sampling area could be from fishery plastic fibers inside of the invertebrate’s stomach activities (e.g., waste of fishermen such as ropes or net content caused lower feeding rate and reduced repairing), and by floating marine debris (Hinojosa & energy reserves (see. Taylor et al. 2016). Thiel 2009). An alternative mechanism to transport L. santolla is an important food source of the plastic debris may be by means ocean for local fisheries but also for other predators in currents too (Barnes et al. 2009). At Nassau Bay, it the natural environment. Few registers indicated seems that fishing gears disposal on the seabed i.e( ., that juveniles of L. santolla are predated by fisheries traps) led to the origin of plastic pollution. starfish Cosmasteria lurida, the flightless steamer Thus is very likely a reflection of the microfibers duck Tachyeres pteneres, the sea gull Larus found on stomach contents of L. santolla. Herein dominicanus (Campodónico et al. 1983) and by we distinguished microplastics fibers with different the marine otter Lutra felina (Sielfeld, 1990). colors and sizes. Such kind of materials have a wide However, predator records on L. santolla adults range of domestic and industrial uses from fishery are rare (Lovrich, 2014). Their likely large size, ropes to synthetic clothing (Thompson et al. 2004). hardness of exoskeleton and presence of thorns Therefore, more accuracy chemical analysis is need are probably against predators (Lovrich, op. cit.). for determining the origin of the microplastics fibers L. santolla trophic interactions are not yet totally on stomach content of L. santolla. established, however the present study suggest that Possible plastic ingestion pathways of the ingestion of microplastic by L. santolla might have king crab may be by indirect or direct consumption, implications for the rest of the food web . alternatively by trophic transfer from lower trophic Worldwide, there are few studies about the level in the food chain (Anderson et al. 2016). L. negative impact of microplastic on marine biota santolla is generalist decapod, with an opportunistic and food webs (e.g., Derraik, 2002; Murray & feeding strategy and it has a varied diet, including Cowie, 2011). Ingestion of plastic fibers may cause gastropods, , among others (Lovrich, physical harm and effects on energy metabolism 2014; Lovrich & Vinuesa, 2016). However, this (Anderson et al. 2016). However, we need further is the first record of plastic fibers as a new item investigation to ascertain their potential hazard on stomach content of L. santolla and further associated to the plastic debris ingestion for this studies are needed to predict potential health risk specie, and on the impacts of plastic transfer (e.g., diseases, lethal starvation). Similar results of throughout the trophic web. FIRST RECORD OF MICROPLASTICS IN STOMACH CONTENT OF THE LITHODES SANTOLLA 63

Table 1. Shows specimen collected, carapace size (length and width; mm), weight (grs), sex, presence or absence, colour, size of microplastic fibers found in the stomach contents of Lithodes santolla.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS santolla” conducted by Dr. Claudia Andrade at the University of Magallanes, Chile. We would like This work was financed by the Instituto to thank all scientific and technical staff from IFOP de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) under the project for their valuable assistance and coordination of “Programa de Seguimiento de las principales the field work campaigns. A special thank to the Pesquerías Nacionales, año 2017. Pesquerías Chief of IFOP Magallanes, Biol. Erik Daza for de Crustáceos 2017/2018”, with the specific his constantly support in the development of the study “Dieta y rol trófico de la centolla Lithodes project and Alex Oyarzo to collect the king crab 64 C. ANDRADE & F. OVANDO specimens. We would like to thank the reviewers Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R., & Kosior, E. (2009). for their thoughtful recommendation of the Plastics recycling: challenges and manuscript. opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: REFERENCES Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 2115- 2126. Anderson, J. C., Park, B. J., & Palace, V. P. (2016). Lovrich, G. A. (1997). La pesquería mixta de las Microplastics in aquatic environments: centollas Lithodes santolla y Paralomis Implications for Canadian ecosystems. granulosa (Anomura: Lithodidae) en Tierra Environmental Pollution, 218, 269-280. del Fuego, Argentina. Investigaciones Andrady, A. L. (2011). Microplastics in the marine Marinas, 25, 41-57. environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Lovrich, G. A. (2014). Lithodidae. En J. A. 62(8), 1596-1605. Calcagno (Ed.), Invertebrados del Mar Arthur, C., Baker, J. E., & Bamford, H. A. (2009). Argentino (pp. 241-261). Vazquez Mazzini Proceedings of the International Research Editores. Workshop on the Occurrence, Effects, Lovrich, G. A., & Vinuesa, J. H. (2016). Biología and Fate of Microplastic Marine Debris, de las centollas (Anomura: Lithodidae). En September 9-11, 2008, University of E. Boschi (Ed.), El mar Argentino y sus Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA. recursos pesqueros (pp. 183-212). Barnes, D. K., Galgani, F., Thompson, R. C., Mittermeier, R. A, Mittermeier, C., Robles-Gil, & Barlaz, M. (2009). Accumulation and P., Pilgrim, J., Fonseca, G., Brook, T., & fragmentation of plastic debris in global Konstant, W. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s environments. Philosophical Transactions last wild places. CEMEX–Conservation of the Royal Society of London B: International, Washington, D.C., USA. Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1985- Murray, F., & Cowie, P. R. (2011). Plastic 1998. contamination in the decapod crustacean Campódonico, I., Hernández, M. B., & Riveros, Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758). E. (1983). Investigación, manejo y control Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62(6), 1207-1217. de las pesquerías de Centolla y Centollón Sielfeld, W. K. (1990). Dieta del chungungo de la XII Región. Informe consolidado: (Lutra feline (Molina, 1782)) (Mustelidae, recurso centollón. Informes Instituto de la Carnivora) en Chile Austral. Revista de Patagonia, 25, 1-97. Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Halsband, C., & Galloway, Serie Ciencias del Mar, 1, 23-29. T. S. (2011). Microplastics as contaminants Stevens, B. G., & Jewett, S. C. (2014). Growth, in the marine environment: a review. Marine molting, and feeding of king crabs. In Pollution Bulletin, 62(12), 2588-2597. Bradley G. Stevens (Ed.), King crabs of the Derraik, J. G. (2002). The pollution of the marine world: Biology and fisheries management environment by plastic debris: a review. (pp. 315-361). CRC Press, Taylor and Marine Pollution Bulletin, 44(9), 842-852. Francis Group. Hidalgo-Ruz, V., Gutow, L., Thompson, R. C., & Vermaire, J. C., Pomeroy, C., Herczegh, S. Thiel, M. (2012). Microplastics in the marine M., Haggart, O., & Murphy, M. (2017). environment: a review of the methods Microplastic abundance and distribution in used for identification and quantification. the open water and sediment of the Ottawa Environmental Science & Technology, River, Canada, and its tributaries. FACETS, 46(6), 3060-3075. 2(1), 301-314. Hinojosa, I. A., & Thiel, M. (2009). Floating Vinuesa, J. H., Varisco, M. A., & Balzi, P. (2013). marine debris in fjords, gulfs and channels of Feeding strategy of early juvenile stages of southern Chile. Marine Pollution Bulletin, the southern king crab Lithodes santolla 58(3), 341-350. in the San Jorge Gulf, Argentina. Revista FIRST RECORD OF MICROPLASTICS IN STOMACH CONTENT OF THE LITHODES SANTOLLA 65

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