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VICTORIA LÓPEZ-RODAS Y COLS. AN. R. ACAD. NAC. FARM.

We propose that the biofouling recovering the underwater body
of ships is a source to disperse algal species, which contributes to
bio-invasion by alien species at least as efficiently as ballast water.

However, antifouling paints are widely used to coat the bottoms
of ships to prevent biofouling. During the 1960s the chemical
industry developed efficacious anti-fouling paints using metallic
compounds in particular the organotin compounds tributyltin (TBT)
and triphenyltin (TPT) (reviewed in 18). TBT and TPT are very toxic
for algae, crustacean and molluscs. These organotin compounds have
been extensively used in ships worldwide. Although some countries
recently banned TBT and TPT (19, 20), the alternative antifouling
paints are also based on other toxic compounds such as cupper
salts (20).

In this work we demonstrate that: i) numerous species of
microalgae travel great distances forming the biofouling recovering
the underwater body of ships, ii) these microalgal species are
resistant to anti-fouling paints, and iii) the antifouling paint-resistant
microalgae arose by rare spontaneous mutation.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Sampling of biofouling recovering the underwater body
2.1. of ships

Microbiological hyssops were scraped against the TBT-antifouling
paint of boats that arriving to Sagunto Port, Valencia, Spain after
large oceanic journeys (i.e. From Africa, America). The hyssops were
immersed in culture flaks (Greiner, Bio-One Inc., Longwood NJ,
USA) with 20 ml of BG-11 medium (Sigma Aldrich Chemie,
Taufkirchen, Germany), and stored at 15 ºC in darkness until
laboratory identification of microalgae species. Microalgae were
identified in fresh samples using settling chambers under and
inverted microscope (Axiovert 35, Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany).

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