Effects of antifouling paints attaching larvae of two spirorbid tubeworms (Serpulidae: Polychaeta)

Abstract

Six cuprous oxide antifouling paints, ranging from low to high quality, were exposed to settling larvae of Spirorbis lamellosa Lamarck and S. convexis Wisely. All paints were newly immersed (up to 11 days). The poor quality paint allowed larvae to attach under laboratory conditions or in the sea, and these larvae developed the characteristic spiral tubes of the adults before dying (post-attachment mortality). Under similar conditions the intermediate and high quality paints killed the larvae before they could attach (pre-attachment mortality). These results are compared with those obtained recently for barnacle, bryozoan, and bivalve mollusc larvae.