Marine biofouling has significant environmental and industrial impacts. Biofouling is considered a specific problem for a wide range of coastal and marine industries, including aquaculture, shipping activities and ports. Colonization and growth of biofouling depend on the complex interactions of biological, physical and chemical factors. Anthropogenic disturbances from coastal modification and water pollution can affect biofouling communities. The coastline of the Arabian Gulf is influenced by marine pollution from a variety of land-based activities. This study investigated spatial and temporal aspects of macrofouling assemblages using experimental panels in a marina and a mariculture centre in Bahrain for a period of one year (2014). Macrofouling assemblages of the two sites differed distinctly in species richness and composition. A total of 38 species was recorded in the mariculture centre compared to eleven species in the marina. Assemblages in the mariculture centre were dominated by hydrozoans, actinozoans, ascidians and sponges, while those in the marina were dominated by tubeworms and barnacles. Different successional patterns were observed in the sampling sites. The sequence of species replacements started by green algae and hydrozoans, followed by actinozoans, ascidians and sponges in the mariculture centre. Brown and green algae, tubeworms and hydrozoans were the earliest successional groups followed by barnacles in the marina. The study provided an initial characterization for the variability of macrofouling assemblages in the naturally and anthropogenically stressed marine environment of the Arabian Gulf. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

View