When I think of things that problematically attach themselves the bottom of boats, I usually think of barnacles. But bacterial biofilms can also be a problem, and can make the substrate more attractive to larger organisms.
I saw an interesting story today on work focused on developing anti-fouling systems that aren’t toxic to the environment. These are “active surfaces” which move in response to changes in voltage or temperature and someday might be able to “shake off slimy colonies of marine bacteria in a manner similar to how a horse might twitch its skin to shoo away flies” .
