Behavioural effects of biofouling in a marine copepod

The impact of biofouling by the filamentous bacteria Leucothrix mucor upon the body density and swimming behaviour of the harpacticoid copepod Tigriopus brevicornis was investigated. Biofouled individuals had a greater body density than non-fouled individuals. Biofouled and non-fouled animals swam similar distances and for similar periods of time during trials, but biofouled animals engaged in fewer, but longer bouts of swimming per trial and as a result experienced a lower swimming rate. These observations imply that biofouling has significant implications for the behavioural ecology of T. brevicornis.