This study focused on quantification and morphological characterization of plastics (0.30–100 mm) at seven sites, namely, Uswetakeiyawa, Kerawalapitiya, Dikowita, Modera, Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, and Wellawatta along the west coast, off Colombo, in August, October, and November, 2017. Samples were collected by dragging the floating net with a mesh size of 300 μm horizontally at the surface. The collected samples were analyzed using standard methods to quantify the plastics in terms of size, color, and shape. The mean abundance (± SE) of total plastics recovered from off Colombo was 140.34 ± 15.23 items/m³ (0.30–100 mm) by number and 0.66 ± 0.16 mg/m³ (1–100 mm) by weight (n = 63). The significantly higher abundance (± SE) of total plastics (0.30–100 mm) was found at Wellawatta (229.40 ± 46.39 items/m³) and Modera (201.28 ± 62.13 items/m³) than that of other sites (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, the 99.60% of the plastics collected were small microplastics within the size range of 0.30–1 mm. Only mesoplastics were significantly varied among sites by weight with significantly high abundance in Kerawalapitiya (0.71 ± 0.31 mg/m³) than that of other sites (p < 0.05). The composition analysis of shape categories indicated that filaments were dominated in coastal area off Colombo with 61% followed by fragments (25%) and films (14%). The color categorization of plastics revealed that colored plastics are predominant with 47% by the number of items followed by white, transparent, and black in off Colombo. According to the results, all study sites are affected by plastic contamination and cause significant health risk on coastal biota. Microplastic contamination level in surface waters acts as a key indicator on high pollution level in the west coast.

中文翻译：

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斯里兰卡西海岸科伦坡外地表水中塑料垃圾（0.30-100毫米）的定量和形态特征。

这项研究的重点是在科伦坡附近的西海岸的Uswetakeiyawa，Kerawalapitiya，Dikowita，Modera，Kollupitiya，Bambalapitiya和Wellawatta七个地点的塑料（0.30–100 mm）的定量和形态表征，分别于8月，10月和2017年11月。通过在表面水平拖动网眼尺寸为300μm的浮动网收集样品。使用标准方法对收集的样品进行分析，以根据尺寸，颜色和形状对塑料进行定量。从科伦坡海域回收的全部塑料的平均丰度（±SE）数量为140.34±15.23个/ m ³（0.30–100 mm），重量为0.66±0.16 mg / m ³（1–100 mm）（n = 63）。在Wellawatta（229.40±46.39项/ m ³）和Modera（201.28±62.13项/ m ³）发现，总塑料（0.30–100 mm）的丰度（±SE）明显高于其他地点（p  <0.05 ）。但是，收集到的塑料中99.60％是尺寸在0.30–1毫米范围内的小型微塑料。Kerawalapitiya的重量中，仅中塑性在各部位之间差异显着，并且丰度（0.71±0.31 mg / m ³）比其他部位显着高（p <0.05）。形状类别的组成分析表明，在科伦坡附近的沿海地区，细丝占主导地位，占61％，其次是碎片（25％）和薄膜（14％）。塑料的颜色分类显示，彩色塑料占主导地位，其中科伦坡以外的产品数量占47％，其次是白色，透明和黑色。根据研究结果，所有研究地点均受到塑料污染的影响，并对沿海生物群造成重大健康风险。地表水中的微尘污染水平是西海岸高污染水平的关键指标。