Effectiveness of Antifouling Coatings and Water Flow in Controlling Attachment of the Nuisance Mussel Limnoperna fortunei

Various antifouling substrata were tested for their effectiveness in inhibiting attachment of Limnoperna fortunei. Field experiments revealed that surface properties affected the antifouling capabilities of nontoxic substrata. Antifouling capabilities were observed for three silicone resin-based coatings with smooth surfaces (<30 mum roughness) and low surface free energy of the hydrogen bonding force component. A further three silicone resin-based coatings tested, as well as other types of nontoxic coatings, did not show any antifouling capabilities. The percentages of juvenile mussels that attached in laboratory experiments correlated with the settling densities of mussels in the field experiments better than those based on adult mussels. This suggests that laboratory experiments with juveniles may be effective as short term preliminary assays to select promising materials/coatings for longer term field experiments. Mussel abundance surveys within a water transmission pipe and pipe current velocity simulation revealed that less infestation was observed in the areas with a wall-vicinity fluid velocity of >1.3 m s(-1). Conversely, pipe surfaces with flows of <1.2 m s(-1) were heavily fouled by L. fortunei.