STUDIES ON SELECTIVITY AND ESTABLISHMENT OF 'PELO DE OSO' (GARVEIA FRANCISCANA) ON METALLIC AND NON-METALLIC MATERIALS SUBMERGED IN LAKE MARACAIBO

摘要

Exotic marine organisms Garveia franciscana, called “pelo de oso” by the locals,rnwere detected in Lake Maracaibo after the lake was opened to the sea in 1959.rnThese organisms adapt and maintain a favorable ecological growth in thisrnenvironment.rn“Pelo de oso” constitutes one of the three components of the metal/biota/solutionrnsystem that interact in Lake Maracaibo, producing biofouling and microbiologicalrncorrosion. The latter generate great economic problems, maily: water-pumprnfailures, increase in cleaning frequency at inlet, decreasing efficiency ofrndeoxygenating towers, increase in facility-maintenance costs due to unscheduledrnshutdowns, and so on.