Fig. 5: Lab settlement assays results.

a Results of settlement assays using Flavobacterium sp. and Bugula neritina. *Statistically significant difference. All data are means ± SEs (n = 6 for Flavobacterium sp., n = 5 for Bugula neritina). b Optical microscopic images of samples after settlement of Flavobacterium sp. Scale bar: 10 µm. The length of a single Flavobacterium ranged from 3 to 5 μm; thus, nanostructures of pitch 350 nm prohibited bacterial attachment (as predicted by attachment point theory). As the micro-riblet gaps ranged from 35 to 100 µm (and were thus smaller than the larvae [~320 μm]), the larvae did not settle on the micro-riblets.³⁴