Presence of anthropogenic fibers in gills and digestive tract of the silverside fish Odontesthes bonariensis from the lower basin of the Tunuyán River in the Central Andes.

Anthropogenic pollution has become a threat to the freshwater environments on a global scale.Like other contaminants, plastic particles can reach mountain ecosystems through atmospheric transport and regional transport.Nowadays, there are few reports on anthropogenic particles such as microplastics in mountain ecosystems.Here, we measured the abundance of anthropogenic particles in gastrointestinal tracts (GIT) and gills of silverside fish specimens captured during three consecutive years (2013, 2014, and 2015) at the end of the spring season (November-December) from Carrizal dam in the Central Andes region of Argentina.In this study only fibers were detected.The abundance of anthropogenic fibers in the GIT of silverside fish specimens was significantly higher in the year 2013 (50.8 fibers fish -1 ) than in the years 2014 and 2015 (20.4 fibers fish -1 ; 1.30.3fibers fish -1 , respectively).These findings suggest the need to update and design monitoring programs that include environmental (surface water) and other biological matrices (prey items) to enhance our understanding on the sources of pollution in this Andean region.