Callow and Callow provided a widely cited introduction to the biological mechanisms that drive marine biofouling, written for a broad scientific audience. They described the fouling succession in detail: initial conditioning film formation within seconds of immersion, bacterial biofilm development within hours, diatom colonisation producing visible slime within days, and the settlement of macrofouling larvae — barnacle cyprids, hydroid planulae, mussel pediveligers — within one to four weeks depending on environmental conditions.
Central to the review was an examination of the adhesion mechanisms used by different fouling organisms, from the extracellular polymeric substances of biofilm bacteria to the permanent cement proteins of barnacles and the reversible adhesive footprints of algal zoospores. The authors argued that understanding these molecular-level attachment strategies is essential for developing the next generation of non-toxic antifouling surfaces, an insight that has guided coating research ever since.
For an applied perspective on how this biological knowledge translates into farm-level management, see how organisms colonise surfaces. The fouling organisms database documents settlement behaviour for each major group, and the solutions comparison evaluates how well different anti-fouling technologies disrupt the attachment mechanisms described in this paper.