Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica accumulates sunscreen UV filters

Certain ultra-violet filter (UVF) components of solar creams have negative impacts on coral reefs and have been prohibited in international tourism destinations (i.e., Hawaii, Florida, and Palau) to protect coral reefs. In the Mediterranean coasts which are also hotspots of international tourism and where endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica forms extensive meadows, the accumulation of UVF components have not been studied. We report for the first time, that the rhizomes of P. oceanica internally accumulated UVFs BP3, BP4, AVO, 4MBC and MeBZT and the paraben preservative MePB. The components BP4 and MePB occurred in higher concentrations reaching up to 129 ng g^-1 dw and 512 ng g^-1 dw, respectively. This work emphasizes the need for more experimental studies on the effects of UVFs on seagrasses and check if we should follow suit to prohibit certain UVFs to protect this species as what has been done in other regions to protect corals.