A review directed by the exploration group SEAaq (Ecosystem and Aquatic Animal Health) of the Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology at the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB) and distributed in the journal Science of the Total Environment has zeroed in on the examination of the condition of the wellbeing of anchovies tracked down in various places of the Catalan coast (Tarragona, Barcelona, and Blanes).
Among the few perspectives investigated, researchers zeroed in on the parasites tainting this species, with a specific premium put on the species that could be communicated to people and cause potential contamination (zoonotic parasites). They likewise examined the presence of anthropogenic components (counting microplastics) in the gastrointestinal systems of the fish, as well as the potential effect these plastics could have on their conditions of well-being. Moreover, they contrasted the qualities they got with those gathered 12 years prior.
“Although the fish we examined did have parasites and other small organ changes, they were all within normal levels found in the natural environment. None of this is harmful to either the anchovy or people.”
Oriol Rodríguez-Romeu
As indicated by the aftereffects of the review, anchovies caught off the Catalan coast introduced no applicable pathologies nor did they contain any zoonotic parasites that could influence human wellbeing. As per UAB specialist Oriol Rodrguez-Romeu, “Although the fish we dissected contained parasites and other minor modifications in their organs, it was all inside the typical levels we would track down in the regular habitat.” “Absolutely no part of this represents a danger, neither for the anchovy nor for people.”
In contrast with anchovy populations tracked down in different areas of species dispersion, where researchers enlisted raised degrees of zoonotic parasites, the anchovies of Catalonia’s coast appear to have a significantly diminished hazard of communicating these parasites to people. “For instance, the parasite Anisakis was not distinguished in any of the people of the various populations examined, as opposed to what happens in the Atlantic or different regions of the Mediterranean, where there is a more successive presence of this parasite,” explains UAB specialist Maria Constenla.
Anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus) are a critical part of the Mediterranean’s pelagic environment, with an outstanding business incentive for the vast majority of Catalonia’s seaside fisheries. In the past couple of years, a dynamic decrease in the size of anchovy populations has been seen in the Mediterranean, as well as in their size and period of development. Although the review didn’t uncover the impacts of plastics on Catalan anchovies, it merits highlighting that the degree of plastic contamination (microplastic ingested) in fish is higher in the examples gathered in 2019 (70% predominance) than 12 years prior, in 2007 (with a 40% commonness). Yet again, this is a reasonable sign of the need to battle plastic contamination and keep it from entering the climate.
In this review, researchers found microfibers and plastic particles in the gastrointestinal systems of around half of all fish broken down into one to two things for each anchovy. These levels are moderately like or even lower than what can be tracked down in species from a similar region and reflect, as mainstream researchers have illustrated, the bountiful presence of plastic-determined particles in the marine climate.
These tests also indicate that there appear to be no immediate effects on the fish’s health. The way that the particles are just found in the gastrointestinal system is likewise a significant reality concerning food handling, considering that before anchovies can be eaten, as happens with most fish species, all guts are eliminated. Consequently, “we immovably trust that how much microplastics vulnerable to being ingested by people as an outcome of eating anchovies is a lot lower than what could be consumed through some other source, like the air or from plastic holders,” states UAB instructor Anna Soler-Membrives.
More information: Oriol Rodríguez-Romeu et al, Assessment of the health status of the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in the NW Mediterranean Sea from an interdisciplinary approach and implications for food safety, Science of The Total Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156539
