The carapace of a normal lobster is sleek and slippery to the touch: Normal Adult Female. The slipperiness of the lobster to the touch is based on an unstirred layer of dissolved calcite, a crystaline form of CaCO₃. The dissolved carbonate takes a proton from water becoming bicarbonate and leaving a hydroxyl which can raise the pH of the unstirred layer to be pH 9 or 10.

CaCO₃ + H₂O = Ca²⁺ + HCO₃^-1 + OH^-1

This high pH layer inhibits the life functions of bacteria which find it hard to settle and form a biofilm on the lobster carapace. Motility of bacteria depend on the bacterial flagellum which is a rotary engine driven by protons. High pH turns off the source of energy for this Wankel engine. Many nutrients are co-transported into the bacterium with protons and high pH turns off bacterial nutrition.

Posted on 17 de fevereiro de 2019, 03:47 AM by joekunk