Microplastic pollution has been observed in marine environments around the world and has the potential to negatively impact marine organisms if ingested. Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are susceptible to this pollution because they feed in sediment where dense plastics accumulate. Microplastic ingestion by blue crabs was assessed in Corpus Christi Bay, TX. Crab stomachs were extracted and digested using a hydrogen‐peroxide based tissue destruction method followed by material confirmation using microattenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μ‐FTIR). From the 39 blue crabs sampled, 28 fully synthetic fragments and fibers and 24 semisynthetic fibers were found within their stomachs. After correcting for possible contamination, 36% of collected blue crabs contained fully synthetic fragments and fibers and semisynthetic fibers with an estimate of 0.87 items per crab. This study demonstrates the need for further studies that assess the impacts of plastic ingestion on blue crabs.

中文翻译：

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科珀斯克里斯蒂湾蓝蟹，Callinectes sapidus中的微生物污染

在全世界的海洋环境中都观察到了微塑性污染，如果被摄入，可能会对海洋生物产生负面影响。蓝蟹（Callinectes sapidus）容易受到这种污染的影响，因为它们会进入沉积物，而这些沉积物会聚集密集的塑料。在得克萨斯州科珀斯克里斯蒂湾评估了蓝蟹摄入的微塑性物质。使用基于过氧化氢的组织破坏方法提取并消化蟹胃，然后使用微衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱（μ-FTIR）进行材料确认。从采样的39只蓝蟹中，在他们的胃中发现了28种完全合成的碎片和纤维以及24种半合成纤维。在校正可能的污染后，收集的蓝蟹中有36％包含完全合成的碎片，纤维和半合成纤维，每只螃蟹估计有0.87项。这项研究表明有必要进行进一步的研究，以评估塑料摄入对蓝蟹的影响。