Zeitschrift für Meeresbiologie und Ozeanographie

Comparative Studies on the Biological Glue of Some Opportunistic Adult Marine Macro-Fouling After Dislodgement and Construction of Temporary Faunal Conglomerations

Saad GA, AlQurashi NA and Hashimi SM

Comparative Studies on the Biological Glue of Some Opportunistic Adult Marine Macro-Fouling After Dislodgement and Construction of Temporary Faunal Conglomerations

This study aimed to elucidate the composition of the biological glue of the sea anemone Metridium senile, the tubeworm Serpula vermicularis, the acorn barnacle Balanus amphitrite, the gastropod limpet Patella aspera and the sea squirt Styela plicata and to analyze these biological glue in the different seasons of the year. Furthermore, to propose antifouling strategies that can be developed from the present results. The sessile macro-fouling have the capability to dislodge and crawl searching for new suitable substrata for attachment. A total of 30 taxa representing five phyla were sampled every season across Northern Khobar estuarine beach of the Arabian Gulf. The proximate compositions of protein, lipid and carbohydrate in the basal discs or attachment integuments were measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu Phenol method of 66 Lowry et al., the chloroform-methanol method according to Folch et al. and the phenol-sulfuric acid method of Dubois et al. respectively. The total fat, protein, carbohydrate, and moisture contents ranged from 1 ± 0.57% -2 ± 0.98%, 23 ± 1.60 -23 ± 0.80, 0,2 ± 0,10 -1,98 ± 0,20 and 71 ± 0.61% -72 ± 2.07% by weight, respectively. The indispensable and conditional amino acids predominated in tissues were estimated. A high-pressure chromatographic separation was applied for amino acid analysis of biological glue. The most predominant amino acids were Aspartic acid (Asp D), Glutamine (Gln Q), Glycine (Gly G), Methionine (Met M), Phenylalanine (Phe F), Serine (Ser S) and Valine (Val V). Proteins in biological glue of the five species were resolved by SDS-PAGE and digested with trypsin. The majority of the resolved protein spots were within the molecular size ranging from 250 kDa to less than 30-kDa. The total lipid was estimated by chloroform-methanol method according to Folch et al. Capillary gas chromatography was applied to measure the fatty acid profiles of the biological glue. The lipid content of the biological glue of the five species studied were roughly similar but in different quantities. It was found that lipids of biological glue were predominant by C18:1 V-5, C18:2 V-6, C19:1 v- 8, C20:1 V-9, C24:1 V-6, C19:2 V-6. The estimation of total carbohydrate content of tissue in the basal discs or attachment integuments of the five macro-benthos ranged from 2.5 to 8.7 mg carbohydrates g-1 wet weight. The carbohydrate content of the biological glue was apparently dependent partly on species and partly on the season of settlement. All data obtained were statistically analyzed using One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of means with significance at P<0.05 with R squared variable; Newman-Keuls Multiple Comparison Test Mean Difference at P>0.05; Tukey's Multiple Comparison Test Mean Difference at P>0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.001; Bartlett's test for equal variances Mean Difference at P<0.05; Bonferroni's Multiple Comparison Test at variable Mean Difference; Dunnett's Multiple Comparison Test at P<0.01 and P>0.05.