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Microplastics – an emerging threat in the Indian

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 MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH
https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2022.2096905

REVIEW ARTICLE

Microplastics – an emerging threat in the Indian waterbodies

K. Reeha Mashirin and K. C. Chitra
Endocrinology and Toxicology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, Malappuram District, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Microplastics in aquatic ecosystems are one of the emerging threats that concern aquatic life Received 11 March 2022
and human health. Plastic particles of varied sizes are very common in the marine environment, Accepted 22 June 2022
with microplastics disturbing aquatic life globally. Aquatic ecosystems play a pivotal role in
SUBJECT EDITOR
stabilizing the global climate, and also provide a variety of services to the growing human
Carolin Löscher
population. However, anthropogenic activities provoke the microplastics accumulation in
the aquatic ecosystems through various sources including extensive production, ubiquitous KEYWORDS
usage, wide applications and improper disposal. Recent years have witnessed that Indian Microplastics; aquatic
waterbodies are drowning in plastic waste owing to poor management and improper ecosystems; environmental
facilities to dispose of plastic effluents. The occurrence, distribution and toxicity of toxicology; ecological risks;
microplastics are increasing in diverse aquatic sectors of Indian coastlines. The unique Indian coastlines
physiochemical properties, rapid internalization, retention time and long-term impacts of
microplastics pose threats to aquatic life, and indirectly affect human health by fish
consumption. A very few studies have reported that microplastics pollution is confined to
recreational beaches and other industrial areas. This review provides additional information
to understand the extent of microplastic defilement in the waterbodies of Indian coastlines,
and also create awareness of the emerging pollutant-related health issues.

Introduction
There is a growing concern that various types of plastic
products in the environment hamper the quality of life.
The most serious and emerging form of plastic pol-
lution is the abundance of microplastics, the small-
sized plastic fragments, reaching every corner of the
earth. The lack of appropriate technologies and man-
agement to separate such minute plastic fragments
that are ubiquitously found in the air, water, soil and
snow causes serious health effects or ecological imbal-
ance. The predominant pathways for the entry of
microplastics into the aquatic ecosystems include the
direct discharge from the products that contain
plastic ingredients such as cosmetics, textiles and
other personal care products, which are referred to
as primary sources. The weathering of large plastic pro-
ducts over a long period forms the secondary source of
microplastics (Turner et al. 2020). Besides, they persist
in the environment due to their continuous discharge,
improper disposal, lack of wastewater treatment facili-
ties and anthropogenic activities. Many environmen-
talists and ecotoxicologists are now curious to
explore the distribution, abundance and impacts of
these plastic fragments.
The evidence for plastics of varied sizes was
reported in the late 1970s, but it took several years
to resume further studies on their toxic impacts.
During 2014–2020, several kinds of research have
been published on the occurrence, distribution, per-
sistence and adverse effects of microplastics in
different flora and fauna worldwide. Though several
investigations are in progress, it is very unfortunate
that the Earth has been filled with plastic waste, such
that it is being named the Plasticene era. Microplastics
are microscopic plastic fragments of less than 5 mm,
which are widely distributed in the aquatic ecosystem,
and they persist for a long period causing adverse
effects on the exposed organisms. An aquatic ecosys-
tem is found to be the major repository of microplas-
tics where they form additives with other pollutants
to maximize their impact on aquatic life. Freshwater
bodies are vectors, which carry microplastics from
the land and deposit them into the sea or ocean,
which forms the final destination since the abundance
of microplastic deposition in the form of sediments,
granules or pellets are found from seashores, sea sur-
faces and sea floors (Hale et al. 2020). Some literature
has stated that the physiochemical properties of the

CONTACT K. C. Chitra kcchitra@yahoo.com Endocrinology and Toxicology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calicut, Malappuram
District, Kerala, 673635, India
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Published online 22 Jul 2022

2 K. R. MASHIRIN AND K. C. CHITRA
marine environment play a major role in the extent of
microplastic toxicity in organisms. The organic debris
in the water bodies can trap microplastics and
enable them to persist for a longer period, therefore
affecting the life of both freshwater and marine flora
and fauna. The lightweight microplastics float while
the heavier particles sink into the bottom of the
ocean, which affects pelagic, demersal and benthic
feeders.
Aquatic animals on feeding the microplastics
develop alterations in their physiological activities
and this could lead to a decline in populations in the
natural environment. The other pathologies commonly
found in aquatic organisms include impaired digestive
performance, absorption, behavioural response,
changes in immune response and reproduction.
Humans may also end up with similar abnormalities
on consuming the contaminated aquatic food. Many
developed countries are now engaged in scrutinizing
different forms of plastic fragments that ruin the
quality of the ecosystems. India, one of the developing
countries, is a major plastic consumer in the world as
the production of plastic waste is approximately 8
million tons annually, and about 5.7 million tons of
plastic is converted into waste per annum (Verma
et al. 2016). The present study focuses mainly on the
microplastic pollution in the Indian scenario, which
remains largely unexplored.
Types of plastics
Plastic wastes are pervasive from landfills to oceans,
and they find their way into the living organisms
through internalization. Several technologies such
as satellite imaging, artificial intelligence, data visual-
ization and blockchains have been used extensively
to attempt to stop the flow of plastics into oceans,
but a promising solution to save our planet from
plastic pollution has not been developed. Plastic pol-
lution now adopts a newer way of contaminating the
earth by modifying the size of the particles,
especially as small fragments that are invisible to
naked eyes. Based on their size, plastic fragments
are classified into various types such as megaplastics
(>100 mm), macroplastics (>20 mm), mesoplastics (5–
20 mm), microplastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics (1–
100 nm) (Koelmans 2015). The primary characteristics
of microplastics challenge the ecosystem as an emer-
ging pollutant, where the small size permits for their
easy penetration into living tissues and means they
have a high stability and persistence in the
environment.
Megaplastics
Megaplastics are large plastic fragments of more than
100 mm size that include plastic bags, bottles, toys,
automobile parts, lab-wares, etc. The careless disposal
of plastic commodities and poor recycling are the main
reasons for the accumulation of megaplastics in the
environment. Owing to their large size, megaplastics
can be easily segregated and removed from the
environment. However, in India, the first step of segre-
gation is at the rudimentary stage that allows plastic
products to persist in the environment. The Central
Pollution Control Board has reported in 2018–2019
that India generates 3.3 million metric tons of plastic
waste per year, which is equivalent to the weight of
approximately 126 Howrah Bridges made of plastic
trash. The actions of weathering and UV radiation
convert megaplastics into smaller-sized fragments
that reach the air, land, water and food through
various sources such as wind, rain, floods and
wastewater.
Macroplastics
Macroplastics are the visible fractions of >20 mm
size, mainly formed from the residues of plastic
bottles, plastic food packages, residues of automobile
parts, carrier bags, surgical equipment, and so on.
Excessive usage of single-use plastic products, mis-
managed plastic waste and improper disposal
account for the macroplastic accumulation in the
environment. Macroplastics from garbage dumps
and landfills change the quality of soil on interaction
with other chemicals thereby interfering with the
normal biogeochemical cycles. A large bulk of
plastic waste from landfills enters the aquatic
environment by direct disposal, tourist activities,
wind and rain thereby threatening the life of
aquatic organisms. In the marine ecosystem, they
occupy all strata including seafloor, sea surface,
water columns, sediments and the coastal lines
(Turra et al. 2014). The abundance of macroplastics
along the west coast of India is due to release
from the nearshore plastic and petroleum industries,
port areas and human recreational activities (Mahar-
ana et al. 2020). The accumulation of macroplastics
destroys habitats, causes entanglement and ingestion
and thus behavioural modifications, reduces move-
ments, disturbs physiological activities and leads to
mortality of aquatic animals, including fish, and
higher vertebrates such as birds and mammals
(Thompson 2006; Fossi et al. 2014).

Mesoplastics
Plastic fragments of 5–20 mm size are categorized
under mesoplastics, which are formed from the weath-
ering of macroplastics or accidental spillage from man-
ufacturers. These include plastic films, filaments,
needles, nurdles of toothpaste, waste generated
during welding and moulding of plastics, etc. Hence
they contaminate air, land and water as invisible frac-
tions which harm the workers of factories and plastic
recycling units. The effluents discharged from the
same sectors adversely affect terrestrial, aerial and
aquatic ecosystems. The highly populated locations
along the river Ganga at eastern India is found to be
extremely polluted with mesoplastics of different
sizes, colours and morphotypes (Sarkar et al. 2019).
Microplastics
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and European Chemical Agency (ECA) has
classified plastic fragments of <5 mm size as microplas-
tics. These are carried to aquatic ecosystems from
densely populated and industrialized land areas. The
light weight of the particles allows for easy dispersal
by wind, and helps either to float or sink in waterbo-
dies based on its varying density and morphotypes
such as fibres, films, foams, microbeads and pellets.
According to their chemical properties, they are cate-
gorized into different types of polymers such as poly-
ethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyvinyl
chloride, polyurethane and nylon. The environmental
half-lives of plastics are known to vary depending
upon the type of polymers and ambient conditions,
and range from days to centuries (Ward et al. 2019).
Microplastics that finally enter into the aquatic eco-
system are known to occupy all compartments of
water bodies, i.e. surface water, deep sea, lentic and
lotic waterbodies, sediments, shores, etc. The surface
modifications of microplastics enable the active
adsorption with other toxicants including heavy
metals, inorganic and organic pollutants (Ashton
et al. 2010; Dekiff et al. 2014; Banaee et al. 2019). The
inert surface properties and lipophilicity of microplas-
tics cause bacterial colonization through co-selection
(Brennecke et al. 2016), and also invade aquatic organ-
isms posing potential adverse effects by altering phys-
iological activities including growth and reproduction,
thus resulting in populations declining. The Toxic Links
conducted a study in March 2018 that further confirms
the presence of microplastics in 50% of certain dom-
estic products such as face wash, soaps and toothpaste
found in the Indian markets.
MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH 3
Nanoplastics
The plastic fragments of 1–100 nm size are referred to
as nanoplastics, which are microscopic particles dis-
charged indirectly from weathering of larger particles,
and directly from nano-composites used in biomedical
and other engineering fields. The nano-size of the par-
ticles permits for easy penetration into the living
tissues thereby interrupting normal functioning. Nano-
plastics also make a stable and unstable colloidal
system with other organic and inorganic molecules
(Hotze et al. 2010) which serves as a vector for other
toxicants and microbes (Teuten et al. 2009; Oberbeck-
mann et al. 2015).
Microplastic pollution in Indian water bodies
Microplastics are classified under the category of
‘emerging pollutants’ as they have adverse effects on
the environment and human health. India ranks
second in the world population, and its expanded
economic development, urbanization and industrializ-
ation along with the depletion of natural resources and
environmental damage makes it a challenge to face
different types of pollutants, including microplastics.
In India, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, water
pollution and overexploitation of natural resources
are the main factors that lead to ecological imbalance
(Lakshmana 2013). Among several consumer products,
the use of plastics gained increasing popularity across
the globe, and also in India owing to its increased
demand and efficient use. Currently, India has 22,000
plastic processing units, and about 150 plastic proces-
sing factories with growing per capita plastic con-
sumption to nearly 20 million metric tons (MoEFCC
2018). Several types of research have reported that
the land-based plastic waste, which exists in different
types such as megaplastics, macroplastics, mesoplas-
tics, microplastics and nanoplastics enter into Indian
waterbodies. The total plastic waste that is dumped
in rivers and oceans across the country is mainly due
to inadequate waste management that widely threa-
tens the aquatic biota and affects the livelihoods of
millions of people. Both the east and west coast of
Indian waterbodies are polluted with plastic debris,
of which 80% are land-based and 20% are ocean-
based, consisting mainly of macroplastics and micro-
plastics (Jambeck et al. 2015).
India has a coastline of 7,516.6 km, of which 5,422.6
km cover the mainland coastline, and 2,094 km cover
Indian islands, touching nine maritime states and two
Union territories. In the context of secondary research
or literature review conducted, it was found that
4 K. R. MASHIRIN AND K. C. CHITRA
several hotspots have been identified along the east
and west coast of India. Some of the hotspots in the
west coast of India include Aksa, Dadar, Juhu, and
Mumbai of Maharashtra, Caranzalem beach, Calan-
gute, Colva, and Vegator of Goa, Devbagh, Karwar,
and Panambur of Karnataka, Kochi, Thrissur, and Vem-
banad lake of Kochi, Kerala. Besides, Thinnakara and
Agatti islands of Lakshadeep on the west coast of
Indian islands are polluted with plastic debris. The
major hotspots on the east coast of India include
Chennai, Rameshwaram, Nagapattinam, and Tuticorin
of Tamil Nadu, as well as 21 different groups of
Island sectors in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on
the east coast of India. The occurrence of plastic
debris is more abundant on the west coast of India,
and its distribution along the Indian coastlines is
shown in Figure 1.
Distribution of plastic debris along the west
coast of India
The occurrence of plastic debris has been reported from
the west coast of India, which was categorized based on
its size as macroplastics (>5 mm size) and microplastics
(<5 mm size) (Maharana et al. 2020). Most of the studies
were conducted in the coastline states including
Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala of the west
coastal region. The abundance of plastic debris was col-
lected from four study sites of Maharashtra and Goa,
and three study zones of Karnataka and Kerala
showed significant variations in size. It was found that
macroplastics were abundant in most of the study
sites whereas microplastics are relatively less
(Figure 2). Meanwhile, the occurrence and distribution
of mesoplastics and nanoplastics were least studied in
Indian waterbodies. The abundance of macroplastics
in the west coastal region of India is likely due to high
anthropogenic activities in the natural beach dynamics,
runoff pollution from land, and improper disposal of
Figure 1. The occurrence of plastic debris along the Indian
coastlines.
waste plastics in the form of open dumping and lost
fishing gear including nets, lines, traps and pots (Thush-
ari and Senevirathna 2020).
Based on the surface morphology, fragments of both
macroplastics and microplastics were more abundant
along ten sandy beaches that spread across Maharash-
tra, Goa and Karnataka, which were followed by fibres,
films and pellets (Maharana et al. 2020). In another
study, different morphotypes of microplastics have
been detected in the beach sands near Marine Drive
in the Girgaon area of Mumbai, Maharashtra state, of
varying shape and size, with the majority being fibres
(51%) followed by 40% granules and 9% plastic films
(Tiwari et al. 2019). A study conducted by Sruthy and
Ramasamy (2017) in ten different sites along the
southern part of Vembanad lake, Kochi district, and in
the Nattika beach, Thrissur district of Kerala state ident-
ified fragment, film, foam, fibre and pellet-shaped
microplastics (Figure 3). The west coastal zone of
India consists of residential, urbanized and industrial-
ized areas, and the flow of different morphotypes of
microplastics also occurs due to tourism, domestic
waste, extensive use of cosmetic products and other
recreation-related activities (Browne et al. 2011).
Identification of polymer types in microplastics has
reported a high percentage of polyethylene in the
beaches of Goa followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka
and Kerala whereas polypropylene was found to be
relatively higher in Karnataka than the other states
(Figure 4). Polyethylene and polypropylene were
found to be the most abundant microplastics on the
beaches of the west coast of India (Ashwini and Vargh-
ese 2019; Maharana et al. 2020). The ubiquitous use of
these polymers in consumer products including packa-
ging, piping, automotive, food containers, electrical
Figure 2. The abundance of plastic debris along the west
coast of India.

Figure 3. Morphotypes of microplastics along the west coast
of India.
Figure 4. Polymers of microplastics on the west coast of India.
items, plastic bags, ropes, clothing, carpets and con-
crete reinforcement releases them as the primary
plastic wastes into the environment (Erni-Cassola
et al. 2019).
Aquatic organisms prefer to ingest microplastics
with a colour resembling their prey or food pellets
(Ory et al. 2018). Fish probably avoid blue, yellow
and translucent microplastics as they do not resemble
the prey coluor, but are accidentally swallowed along
with a large part of planktons (Lima et al. 2014).
Colour variations in microplastics have been reported
in western coastal regions of India with an abundance
of white colour followed by pale yellow, dark brown,
green, blue, transparent and red (Maharana et al.
2020). A study conducted in coastal waters of Kochi,
Kerala found red colour as predominant followed by
blue, black, transparent and green (Daniel et al.
2020a). The colours of microplastics identified from
the gut of Piaractus brachypomus in the Ramsar site
of Vembanad include pink, red, blue, light green,
orange and straw (Devi et al. 2020). However, nine
different colours such as blue, green, white, black,
MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH 5
pink, red, orange, yellow and brown have been ident-
ified in Kochi, in the south-west coast of India (James
et al. 2020; Daniel et al. 2020a). The presence of red
and pale yellow micropellets in the Nattika beach of
Thrissur district, Kerala results from the high anthropo-
genic activities (Ashwini and Varghese 2019). In a
study, sampling conducted at the high tideline in
August 2020 has identified white and transparent
microplastics of <1 mm size in Tannirubavi, Panambur,
Surathkal beaches in the Mangalore region of Dakshina
Kannada, and also in Kapu and Malpe beaches in
Udupi districts of Karnataka (Yaranal et al. 2021).
Distribution of plastic debris along the east
coast of India
The east coast of India extends from the North Ganga
delta to the South Kanyakumari with its width ranging
from 80–100 km covering four states such as West
Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
along with two Union territories namely Daman and
Diu, and Puducherry. Several studies have been con-
ducted along the coastlines of the above states,
which raised concerns about the occurrence of
primary and secondary plastics. The primary microplas-
tics include microbeads, micropellets and microfibres
derived from personal care products, industrial
sectors and synthetic textiles whereas secondary
microplastics are formed from the breakdown of
large plastics through weathering, wind abrasion,
wave action and ultraviolet radiation (Browne et al.
2011). The main hotspots of microplastics on the east
coast of India include Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Pudu-
cherry while the studies remain scanty in Andhra
Pradesh.
The occurrence of microplastics varying in colour,
shape and size has been reported from nine stations
along the coast of Odisha with high abundance in
Swargadwara, followed by Chandipur, Chandrabhaga,
Golden beach, Beleswar, Gopalpur, Paradeep,
Sunapur and Abhayachandpur (Patchaiyappan et al.
2021). On the south-east coast of India, Tamil Nadu is
highly polluted with microplastics, and is facing
threats due to industrialization, dumping of land-
based plastic wastes and a dense population. The
coastline of Tamil Nadu consists of sandy beaches,
muddy coast and soft rocky coast that covers 19% of
the total coastal length thereby ranking as third-
longest coastline of the country. Several studies were
conducted in different sites from Pulicat lake to Kan-
niyakumari, which include Chennai, Nagapattinam,
Dhanushkodi of Rameswaram district, Tuticorin
(Thoothukudi) and Kanyakumari (Karthik et al. 2018;
6 K. R. MASHIRIN AND K. C. CHITRA
Tiwari et al. 2019; Jeyasanta et al. 2020; Karuppasamy
et al. 2020). The hotspots included urban and rural
areas, fishing ports and harbours, river mouths,
beaches, cultural tourism sites and ecologically sensi-
tive areas. Besides, microplastics contamination has
been reported in the beaches of Puducherry, the
Union Territory along Tamil Nadu coastline, at six hot-
spots that are widely involved in tourism, fishing and
recreational activities namely Pondicherry University,
Boomaiyarpalayam, Auroville, Serenity, Veerampatti-
nam and Paradise (Dowarah and Devipriya 2019). The
prevalence of microplastics was more abundant than
macro- and mesoplastics, and the occurrence of micro-
plastics in Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai was promi-
nent along the east coastline of India, which was
expressed as a total average (Figure 5).
Microplastics are composed of mixtures of polymers
and their functional additives, which are categorized
into six types based on the absorption wavelength as
polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyamide
(nylon), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene ter-
ephthalate (PET). The degree of distribution of poly-
mers in different locations along the coastline of
Tamil Nadu showed variations, in which the presence
of three different types of plastic polymers, namely
polyethylene, polyamide and polyethylene terephthal-
ate was found commonly in the samples collected
from Chennai (Karuppasamy et al. 2020). However,
the samples from Nagapattinam identified only poly-
ethylene and PET since the synthetic textile industries
are comparatively less in the region than Chennai (Kar-
uppasamy et al. 2020). Dhanushkodi, the only land
border between Sri Lanka and India, is located on the
tip of Pamban island along the east coast of Tamil
Nadu. The samples collected from the beach sites
Figure 5. The abundance of microplastics along the east coast
of India.
monitored predominantly the polyethylene microplas-
tics followed by polystyrene and polypropylene along
with other polymers in traceable amounts (Tiwari et al.
2019). Microplastic debris along the coast of Tuticorin,
which borders the southern part of the Gulf of Mannar
consisted of different types of polymers such as poly-
ethylene, polyamide, PET, polypropylene and poly-
styrene (Jeyasanta et al. 2020). The marine water
column, wet sediments and dry sand of urban sandy
beach along the Bay of Bengal coastal stretch of
Tamil Nadu were dominated with granular, filamen-
tous, film and tubular fragments of microplastics
(Sunitha et al. 2021). The distribution of microplastics
polymers along the coastline of Tamil Nadu is shown
in Figure 6. Besides, the coastlines of Puducherry also
contained 13 different polymers from the high tideline
of six beaches (Dowarah and Devipriya 2019).
Microplastics of different morphotypes such as frag-
ments, granules, fibre, film, foam, and pellets were
spotted dominant along the east coast of India. The
occurrence of different morphotypes along the coast-
line or in the gut of organisms reveals a change in
the ecological gradients. A study conducted from 13
fishing villages of Puducherry reported the abundance
of microplastics in terms of shape varied by dominat-
ing fragment forms in order of fibres, films, foams
and pellets (Dowarah and Devipriya 2019). In the
sampling sites of Tuticorin and Dhanushkodi, fibre
type of microplastics was found abundant, and the
other morphotypes such as granules and films were
relatively less (Tiwari et al. 2019; Jeyasanta et al.
2020). Similarly, the colour pattern of microplastics
also showed variation along the coastal regions with
a high composition of white, transparent and brown
colour in Puducherry beaches (Dowarah and Devipriya
2019), while blue and white fragments were abundant
Figure 6. Distribution of microplastics polymers along the
coastline of Tamil Nadu.

in the fishing beaches of Tamil Nadu (Karthik et al.
2018). However, more transparent and black micro-
plastics were isolated from the guts of fishes collected
from Chennai and Nagapattinam fish landing centres
(Karuppasamy et al. 2020). The abundance of white,
blue and green colour microplastics such as polyethy-
lene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and
polystyrene in the dominant shapes of fragment,
fibre and pellets were distributed in the Poompuhar
beach, Tamil Nadu, where fishing and tourism activities
were more prevalent (Neelavannan et al. 2022).
The aquatic organisms are highly exposed to micro-
plastics due to their distribution in all zones of the
aquatic ecosystems. Ingestion of microparticles in
various forms such as fibres, fragments, pellets,
microbeads, etc, leads to many biological and physio-
logical effects in the organisms. Most aquatic animals
are not able to distinguish common plastic items
from food and these are readily passed into the diges-
tive tract where they may be translocated into body
tissues through the epithelial lining (Browne et al.
2008). Since animals cannot digest plastic particles,
these accumulate in the digestive system, and the con-
sumer will often starve as it fills their stomach, and
cause a feeling of satiation, which further prevents
them from eating normal prey (Lusher et al. 2017).
The presence of microplastics in the gut may affect
nutrient intake and growth thereby leading to poor
commercial value. Fish that are sold in markets are
degutted thus it prevents the entry of microplastics
into humans through the food chain, but the
removal of the gut was not practiced in dry fish, thus
hampering the health of humans as well.
Distribution of plastic debris along the Indian
islands
Marine microplastic pollution along the Indian islands
has become a growing concern. However, studies to
quantify the extent of pollution in the coastal ecosys-
tem of islands remain scanty. The first evidence of
microplastic pollution has been reported in water,
sediment, zooplankton, finfish and shellfish samples
collected from the Port Blair Bay of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands (Goswami et al. 2020). The study con-
ducted along the Bay ranging between 3 and 25 m
depths found a high amount of microplastics in the
form of fibres in water, sediments and fish samples, fol-
lowed by fragments and pellets, which was primarily
due to the increased anthropogenic activities. Lak-
shadweep Islands, an archipelago of 36 islands in the
Arabian Sea are south-west and 200–440 km away
from the mainland. A recent report stated the
MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH 7
occurrence of plastic products in the form of ropes,
nets, bottles, etc., and this plastic litter threatens to dis-
integrate into microplastics (Shaikh and Shaikh 2021).
The abundance of microplastics along the
Indian rivers
The seven major rivers, along with their tributaries con-
stitute the riverine ecosystem of India. The Ganga, the
holy river of India, is highly polluted with an abun-
dance of mesoplastics and microplastics along the
lower and estuarine stretches extending from Buxar
to Fraseraganj regions (Sarkar et al. 2019). The sedi-
ment samples of the river during post-monsoon ident-
ified microplastics of different morphotypes including
fibres, microbeads, films and fragments. The major
polymer types consisting of polyethylene terephthal-
ate, polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene
were also found in abundance (Figure 7). The occur-
rence of microplastics were also reported in the
rivers Brahmaputra and Indus consisting of polypropy-
lene and polyethylene polymers of size 20–150 μm
(Tsering et al. 2021). The major anthropogenic activi-
ties such as tourism, fishing, recreation, practicing
rituals including burial of dead bodies, and the direct
discharge of industrial wastes are the main source of
microplastic pollution.
Our review finds that relatively fewer studies have
been conducted in the coastal area of India focusing
on major cities across the coastlines. The collective
information gathered in the review identified the
abundance of polyethylene in all major cities such as
Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Rameshwaram, which
was followed by the polymer polypropylene
(Figure 8). The abundance of microplastics in aquatic
Figure 7. Distribution of microplastics in different stretches of
river Ganga.
8 K. R. MASHIRIN AND K. C. CHITRA
Figure 8. Prevalence of microplastics in major cities of India.
fauna along the Indian coastlines was compared, and
represented in Table I.
Novel technologies for detecting microplastics
The evolution of technologies made many break-
throughs in detecting various pollutants in the
environment, including microplastics. Several hard-
ware and software tools have been developed, and
the integrated approach helps to achieve an efficient
monitoring system for microplastics detection. Data
collected in the form of images from optical satellites
are efficient in detecting and calculating the abun-
dance of macroplastics and microplastics in the
environment (Biermann et al. 2020). Floating debris
index (FDI) and normalized difference vegetation
index (NDVI) are calculated from the data obtained
using the optical satellite. Microplastics types closer
to the infrared red range (NIR) are detected using
optical satellites, and their spectral signatures are
stored as databases for future reference. Besides,
digital holography integrated with artificial intelli-
gence is widely used as a fingerprint to construct
three-dimensional models of microplastics (Bianco
et al. 2020). The use of Raman spectrometry provides
a characterization of microplastics, and the variations
of microplastics based on the spectra details are conju-
gated with artificial neural networking (Post et al.
2021). Deep UV Raman spectrometer detects micro-
plastics with high specificity, which are then integrated
with a modified convolutional neural networking
(CNN) software for monitoring the best prediction
model of microplastics.
Nowadays, carbon isotopes are widely used for bio-
molecular tracing of the varying concentrations of
microplastics in the aquatic food web at each trophic
level (Taipale et al. 2019). The density of plastics in a
biological system is directly related to the size of
microplastics, and thus the possibility of its
bioaccumulation can be investigated using radioiso-
topes. Artificial neural networking (ANN) helps to
identify microplastics with surface modifications,
which are more likely to adsorb other toxicants (Guo
and Wang 2021). More software packages and artificial
intelligence programs have been developed to detect
microplastics in the environment.
Conclusions and future perspectives
Plastics benefit humans in many aspects of daily life
including telecommunications, textile industries, food
packaging, medical devices and other essential
goods. The diverse use of plastic polymers increased
the total production globally, which generates enor-
mous plastic wastes due to the production volumes.
The nature of high persistence in the environment
and resistance of degradation allows microplastics to
accumulate in the environment causing negative
impacts on animals and humans. Therefore, it is
necessary to develop alternatives and to consider
various strategies in future research to reduce the
use of plastic products by focusing on the develop-
ment of green chemistry for the betterment of human-
kind. The study helps to refine our understanding of
types, sources and pathways of various plastic pollu-
tants in the aquatic ecosystems of Indian waterbodies,
and also assists in identifying the most critical locations
of plastic discharge to support the implementation of
cost-effective monitoring and source diminution
efforts.
The great pace in the development of industries
threatens the country with further plastic pollution.
In May 2017, the Bureau of Indian standards tagged
microbeads as unsafe for use in cosmetics and per-
sonal care products, but these products are being
used in Indian markets. Besides, the pellets and
nurdles from soaps and toothpaste form another
menace to the environment. India is an active
member of the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme (UNEP), which is effectively bringing the
three R strategies into various sectors. In 2021, the
Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change (MoEFCC) released a draft that directs the
state governments to monitor the handling of plastic
goods and waste. The rules under the draft were
titled ‘Plastic Management (amendment) rules, 2021’.
The draft urges to increase the thickness of plastic
bags to 120 microns from 50 microns. The export
and import of plastic goods and their stocking are
strictly monitored by the government. The draft also
strictly prohibits the use of virgin plastics in common
commodities such as flags, balloons, straws and ice
 MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH 9

Table 1. The abundance of microplastics in the aquatic fauna of Indian coastlines.

Microplastics
Fish species Common name Feeding habits concentration (%) References Location
Alepes djedaba Horse mackerel Planktivorous 50 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
Anodontostoma Chacunda gizzard Carnivorous 13.5-20% James et al. 2022; Daniel et al. Kerala
chacunda shad 2020b
Arius arius The threadfin sea Invertebrates 9 Karthik et al. 2018 Tamil Nadu
catfish
Atropus atropus The cleftbelly Carnivorous 22 Selvam et al. 2021 Tamil Nadu
trevally
Carangoides Malabar kingfish Carnivorous 75 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
malabaricus
Cyanoglossus Malabar Zooplankton 5 James et al. 2020 Kochi, Kerala
macrostomus tonguesole
Cynoglossus lida Roughscale Benthic feeder 50 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
tonguesole
Decapterus elopsoides Scad Carnivorous 0.53 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Decapterus russelli Round scad Carnivorous 2.1 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Nagapattinam, Tamil
Nadu
Dussumieria acuta Rainbow sardine Zooplankton 12.3 Daniel et al. 2020b Kerala
Eleutheronoma Fourfinger Zooplankton 0.5 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
tetradactylum threadfin
Fenneropenaeus Indian white Carnivorous 30.9 Daniel et al. 2020b Kochi, Kerala
indicus shrimp
Gerres filamentous Whipfin silver- Carnivorous 30.77 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
biddy
Heniochus acuminatus Pennant coral fish Carnivorous 47 Selvam et al. 2021 Tamil Nadu
Leiognathus equulus Ponyfish Benthic 10 Karthik et al. 2018 Tamil Nadu
Invertebrates
Leiognathus Silver bellyfish Carnivorous 9 Selvam et al. 2021 Tamil Nadu
brevirostris
Megalaspis cordyla Indian horse Carnivorous 4.3 Daniel et al. 2020b Kerala
mackerel
Mugil cephalus Flathead mullet Zooplankton 16.7 Karthik et al. 2018 Tamil Nadu
Nemipterus japonicus Japanese Carnivorous 3.16 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai and
threadfin bream Nagapattinam, Tamil
Nadu
Nemipterus peronii Notchedfin Carnivorous 25 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
threadfin bream
Penaeus indicus The Indian prawn Omnivorous 80 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
Piaractus Pirapitinga Omnivorous 26.01 Devi et al. 2020 Vembanad, Kerala
brachypomus
Portunus pelagicus Flower crab Omnivorous 80 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
Pseudotriacanthus Long spined Carnivorous 20.4 Selvam et al. 2021 Tamil Nadu
tripod fish
Rastrelliger kanagurta Indian mackerel Macroplankton 5.88-55 Karthik et al. 2018; James et al. Tamil Nadu, Kerala
2020; 2022; Daniel et al. 2020b
Rastrelliger faughni Island mackerel Zooplankton 0.53 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Sardinella gibbosa Indian sprat Planktivorous 2.5-38 James et al. 2020; 2022; Daniel Kochi, Kerala
et al. 2020b
Sardinella longiceps Indian oil sardine Planktivorous 0.53-17.8 Karuppasamy et al. 2020; James Tamil Nadu, Kerala
et al. 2020; Daniel et al. 2020b
Saurida tumbil Greater lizardfish Carnivorous 44.44 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
Scomberomorous Mackerel Carnivorous 2.1 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
guttatus
Siganus javus Streaked Omnivorous 10.34 Karthik et al. 2018 Tamil Nadu
spinefoot
Sphyraena obtusata Obtuse barracuda Zooplankton 1.2 Daniel et al. 2020b Kerala
Stolephorus indicus Indian anchovy Zooplankton 0.53-10.4 Karuppasamy et al. 2020; James Tamil Nadu, Kerala
et al. 2020; Daniel et al. 2020b
Sufflamen fraenatus Masked triggerfish Carnivorous 12.8 Selvam et al. 2021 Tamil Nadu
Terapon puta Small-scaled Planktivorous 1.58 Karuppasamy et al. 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu
terapon
Thryssa dussumieri Malabar thryssa Carnivorous 12.9 Daniel et al. 2020b Kerala
Upeneus vittatus Bandedtail Carnivorous 40 Goswami et al. 2020 Andaman islands
goatfish

cream sticks to reduce microplastics pollution by the Control Board (CPCB) is strictly involved in developing
end of 2022. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is techniques for converting plastic wastes to bitumen,
also engaged in monitoring the overuse of single-use liquid fuel and encouraging plastic pyrolysis technol-
plastics and microbeads. The Central Pollution ogy. Besides, the paucity of information regarding
10 K. R. MASHIRIN AND K. C. CHITRA
the prevalence of microplastics in the freshwater
environment, and the adverse effects on aquatic
organisms in India must be studied in detail. The
present review analysed only a few studies conducted
along the coastal regions of India. Therefore, it is essen-
tial to explore the gap of knowledge by promoting
future research on various aspects that are being
neglected.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author
(s).
ORCID
K. C. Chitra http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5090-8709
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