Table 1.
Characteristics of fish screened for suspected microplastics. Characteristics include species, foraging type81, tissue sample counts, tissue sample mass (g), and mean particle load (# particles / g tissue) for muscle and gastrointestinal (GI) samples.
| Common Name (Genus species) | Foraging Type1 | Muscle Samples (n) | Muscle Mass (g) mean (sd) | Muscle Particle Load (# particles/g) mean (sd) | GI Samples (n) | GI Mass (g) mean (sd) | GI Particle Load (# particles/g) mean (sd) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard-head Catfish (Ariopsis felis) | Carnivore | 6 | 34.33 (14.45) | 0.08 (0.06) | 6 | 30.43 (16.69) | 6.04 (4.67) |
| Sheeps-head (Archosargus probatocephalus) | Omnivore | 2 | (16.40 - 47.40)* | (0.06 - 0.27)* | 2 | (3.10 - 19.90)* | (1.81 - 7.10)* |
| Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) | Carnivore | 5 | 30.18 (11.90) | 0.11 (0.07) | 4 | 12.30 (2.99) | 2.70 (1.23) |
| Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) | Carnivore | 5 | 68.66 (78.83) | 0.02 (0.05) | 5 | 15.68 (11.81) | 0.99 (1.29) |
| Ladyfish (Elops saurus) | Carnivore | 2 | (100.20 - 117.30)* | (0.04 - 0.15)* | 2 | (20.60 - 25.00)* | (0.68 - 1.16)* |
| Scaled Sardine (Harengula jaguana) | Carnivore | 8 | 6.46 (2.03) | 0.15 (0.12) | 8 | 2.39 (1.49) | 10.87 (5.51) |
| Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) | Omnivore | 24 | 15.01 (15.02) | 0.38 (0.64) | 25 | 4.50 (1.78) | 15.20 (22.79) |
| Spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) | Carnivore | 5 | 26.24 (2.83) | 0.07 (0.05) | 4 | 5.13 (0.86) | 0.91 (0.97) |
| Gulf Toadfish (Opsanus beta ) | Carnivore | 12 | 7.06 (3.75) | 0.38 (0.56) | 12 | 5.61 (2.86) | 4.66 (5.14) |
| Pigfish (Orthopristis chrysoptera) | Carnivore | 16 | 10.19 (7.19) | 0.23 (0.18) | 15 | 4.16 (3.76) | 4.45 (5.45) |
| Atlantic Thread Herring (Opisthonema oglinum) | Carnivore | 4 | 4.3 (3.55) | 1.08 (0.92) | 3 | 3.63 (1.06) | 11.61 (11.08) |
*
Minimum and maximum are presented