Investigating the Acute Toxicity, Median Lethal Concentration of Polystyrene Microplastic to an Indian Air-Breathing Murrel, Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793)

Aarti Kumari, D. K. Paul

Abstract: Contamination of microplastic in water is a worldwide issue which is increasing day by day due the different types of anthropogenic activities. These tiny particles of plastic pose a serious health risk to aquatic organisms. These tiny particles can originate from a variety of primary and secondary sources, such as the fragmentation of larger plastic items and the shedding of microfibers from textiles. One such kind of tiny particle is polystyrene microplastic (PS-MS). The present study aims to determine 96 hrs LC50 value of polystyrene microplastic for the snakehead fish, Channa punctata. A kind of computational and graphical technique can be applied to obtain an LC50 (median lethal concentration) from the response of concentration - mortality data produced by an acute mortality experiment. The data was statistically analysed using SPSS software based on Finney?s probit analysis method. The result revealed the LC50 value to be 4.8 mg/l respectively. With the increase of the concentration of PS-MS, the response of the fish mortality increased gradually. The results indicate that PS-MS revealed acute toxicity to fish when exposed for 96hrs and this could liberate the fact that exposure of PS-MS may result in deleterious toxic effects to fish that influence the overall health of the aquatic environment.

Keywords: Acute toxicity, LC50, PS-MS, Channa punctata