Microplastic intrusion into the zooplankton, the base of the marine food chain: Evidence from the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in the marine environment, yet information regarding their occurrence in the food web is limited. We investigated the concentration and composition of MPs in water and diverse zooplankton groups from the Arabian Sea basin. Forty-one zooplankton tows were collected with a bongo net (330 μm mesh) from the Arabian Sea in January 2019. MPs in the surface water varied between 0 and 0.055 particles/m