Patches of barnacles and ascidians in soft bottoms: Associated motile fauna in relation to the surrounding assemblage

Physical structure of the habitat, provided by barnacles and ascidians, as well as their biodeposition activity are regarded as the main factors structuring the motile fauna in the community studied. The spatial pattern observed seems to imply a range of pattern-generating biogenic processes, similar to those previously revealed in patches of filter-feeding bivalves, tube-building worms and seagrass.