@Paul B It seems as if slime coat in seaweeds is as important as slime coat in fish.
Microbial Communities Associated with Macroorganisms in the Sea: Antagonism, Neutralism, Synergism in Epibiosis
[From an ecological perspective, most interactions among conspecifics, or host/parasite and predator/pray pairs are linked to and controlled by properties of the organism’s body surface. Finally, most environmental stressors such as, e.g., desalination, hypoxia, UV radiation, and pollution are experienced at this functional interface foremost.]
The Second Skin: Ecological Role of Epibiotic Biofilms on Marine Organisms
In the aquatic environment, biofilms on solid surfaces are omnipresent. The outer body surface of marine organisms often represents a highly active interface between host and biofilm. Since biofilms on living surfaces have the capacity to affect the fluxes ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
[From an ecological perspective, most interactions among conspecifics, or host/parasite and predator/pray pairs are linked to and controlled by properties of the organism’s body surface. Finally, most environmental stressors such as, e.g., desalination, hypoxia, UV radiation, and pollution are experienced at this functional interface foremost.]