Microplastic (MP) contamination is gaining increasing attention globally due to increasing plastics manufacturing and its endurance in marine environments. Gastropods are good indicators of MP contamination at different trophic levels as they have a wide variety of feeding habits including grazing, filter feeding, scavenging and predation. In the present study, abundance, characteristics and polymer composition of MP was carried out on nine intertidal gastropod species from eight study sites along the Gujarat coastline. A total of 858 individuals were sampled, resulting in 3,074 MP particles and 100% contamination across all sites. The maximum abundance of MPs was observed in Dwarka (13.71 ± 9.47 MPs/g) and the lowest in Veraval (1.08 ± 0.75 MPs/g) with a significant variance among sites (p < 0.001). Maximum contamination was found in Planaxis sulcatus (13.04 ± 9.94 MPs/g) and minimum in Turbo bruneus (1.00 ± 0.48 MPs/g) differed significantly among species (p < 0.001). The morphological study indicated that fibers were excessively abundant in all species, followed by fragments, with particles mostly between 0.5 and 2 mm. The most common colours were black, blue and red, and they accounted for most of the particles across species. ATR-FTIR analysis showed an equal distribution of polypropylene (50%) and polyethylene (50%) among analyzed polymers, both common components of packaging, fishing gear and textile related debris. The Pollution Load Index (PLI) revealed that Shivrajpur, Dwarka, and Okha experienced the highest MP contamination, whereas Veraval exhibited the lowest levels, with the remaining sites showing moderate pollution. These results indicate a considerable variation in MP contamination in gastropods from the Gujarat coast which is species- and site-specific and associated with variable exposure due to feeding ecology and environmental factors. Gastropods are useful bioindicators for long-term monitoring of MPs in intertidal habitats due to their sensitivity and bioaccumulation capability.
 

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