Microplastics in the Mediterranean blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819) and the European flat oystter (Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, 1758) in the Bay of Šibenik

U lipnju 2019. na području šibenskih uzgajališta dagnji prikupljeni su organizmi za analizu mikroplastike u komercijalno bitnim školjkašima. Ciljane vrste, na kojima je vršeno istraživanje, bile su mediteranska dagnja (Mytilus galloprovincialis) i kamenica (Ostrea edulis). Razlozi uzimanja navedenih vrsta kao pokazatelja količine mikroplastike u morima su sljedeći: školjkaši su filtratori koji filtriranjem mora dolaze u kontakt s fragmentima plastike manjima od 5 mm u promjeru te u svojim tkivima filtriranjem nakupljaju mikroplastiku, ukoliko je ona prisutna u morskom okolišu. Osim toga, bitno je procijeniti rizik konzumiranja navedenih vrsta jer su gastronomski važne. Organska tvar iz školjkaša otopljena je u 10-postotnoj otopini kalijevog hidroksida (KOH), nakon čega je sadržaj filtriran na filter papirima koji su osušeni. Filteri su pregledani pod lupom i fotografirani u slučaju da je mikroplastika bila prisutna na njima. Nadalje, izmjerene su osnovne morfometrijske značajke istraživanih jedinki. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je mikroplastika bila prisutnija u dagnjama, nego u kamenicama, a treba napomenuti da se na području prikupljanja organizama dagnje uzgajaju na klasičan način, odnosno na pergolarima, dok su kamenice bile prikupljene iz divljine u blizini samog uzgajališta.In June 2019, organisms were collected in the area of Sibenik's mussel farms to sample microplastics in commercially important bivalve molluscs. The target species studied were mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and Mediterranean flat oysters (Ostrea edulis). The reasons for taking these species as an indicator of the amount of microplastics in the seas is that shellfish are filter feeders which by filtering the sea, come into contact with plastic fragments of less than 5 mm in diameter, they are also an important part of gastronomy, so one of the reasons as well was to assess the risk for human consumption. Organic matter was dissolved in 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution, after which the contents were filtered on filter paper, and then dried. The filters were examined under a magnifying glass and photographed when microplastics were present on them. Contamination of the samples during the experiment was minimized by wearing a 100% cotton lab coat and covering the filters during drying with aluminum foil. The results of the research show that microplastics were more present in mussels than in oysters, it should be noted that mussels were grown in the classical way, on ropes, while oysters were collected from the wild near the farm itself