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The surface characteristics of pedal mucus: a potential aid to the settlement of marine organisms?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2002

Sebastian P. Holmes ,
Andrew Cherrill  and
Mark S. Davies
Sebastian P. Holmes
Affiliation:
The Northumbrian Water Ecology Centre, The Science Complex, The University of Sunderland, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, SR1 3SD, UK Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee, Postbus 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Nederlands, E-mail: [email protected]
Andrew Cherrill
Affiliation:
The Northumbrian Water Ecology Centre, The Science Complex, The University of Sunderland, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, SR1 3SD, UK
Mark S. Davies
Affiliation:
The Northumbrian Water Ecology Centre, The Science Complex, The University of Sunderland, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, SR1 3SD, UK
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Abstract

Surface characteristics including wettability, thickness and adhesive potential of the pedal mucus produced by Patella vulgata and Littorina littorea were measured, to determine their effects on the settlement of marine organisms. The pedal mucus produced by P. vulgata was less wettable than that produced by L. littorea. For organisms that prefer to settle on hydrophobic substrata the pedal mucus produced by P. vulgata would be their preferred settlement site. The pedal mucus produced by stationary P. vulgata was thicker (mean thickness±SE=0·37±0·004 mm) than the pedal mucus produced by mobile P. vulgata and/or that produced by L. littorea, neither of which differed in their thickness (mean thickness±SE =0·10±0·01 mm).  The pedal mucus produced by P. vulgata had a greater adhesive potential (mean force of adhesion for the size range of mimics examined=3715–5380 Nm2) than the pedal mucus produced by L. littorea (mean force of adhesion for the size range of mimics examined=2846–3361 Nm2). Comparison of the adhesive potential of the pedal mucuses with a pedal mucus analogue, silicon grease, suggests that the pedal mucuses function as a Stefan (1874) adhesive when adhering organisms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 82 , Issue 1 , February 2002 , pp. 131 - 139
Copyright
© 2002 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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