Detection of artificial cellulose microfibers in Boops boops from the northern coasts of Sicily (Central Mediterranean).

Pollution deriving from textile wastes, including industrial and household waste, is recently of great interest due to their environmental impacts. Anthropogenic and synthetic fibers are responsible for negative effects on the quality of water and soil, and, also, their presence damages plant and animal health. In this work, the authors revealed the occurrence of man-made cellulose fibers in specimens of Boops boops from the Northern Sicilian coasts. Bogue was chosen as target species as it has been used as an indicator within the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/EC) in order to value the "microplastics status" in the stomach contents. Of the 30 specimens examined, 63.3% of these had ingested fibers items. The number of fibers ranged from 1 to 10 per specimens with an average of 2.7 items/specimen. Fibers length ranged from 0.5 to 30 mm, most of them were black (95%), and a small percentage was red (5%). The ingestion of man-made cellulose fibers, observed for the first time, in Boops boops in the Mediterranean Sea wake-up call and it should attract the attention of the EU for new guidelines where this new type of contaminant is classified harmful as well as plastics.