Do Virgin and Chemical-Spiked Microplastics Affect Ephyrae Jellyfish Survival and Behaviour?

In the present work, we verified for the first time the difference in toxicity between virgin and pollutant-spiked microplastics (MPs) on Aurelia sp. ephyrae jellyfish, recently suggested in the ecotoxicology survey. With this aim, ephyrae were exposed to both virgin polyethylene (PE) MPs and PE-MPs spiked with oxybenzone (BP3), an endocrine disrupting chemical. After 48 hours acute and behavioral responses, namely Immobility and Frequency of pulsation, were investigated. Overall, both virgin and BP-3 spiked PE- MPs at low and high concentrations, affected Immobility and the pulsation mode in ephyrae jellyfish. In conclusion, no synergic effects in PE-MPs due to BP-3 was observed, suggesting that the presence of this chemical at environmental concentration does not increase PE- MP toxicity on marine jellyfish.