Bioerosion of concrete and limestone by marine organisms: A 13 year experiment from Jamaica

Concrete cinder blocks and Pleistocene coral limestone rubble were submerged in the East Back Reef lagoon at Discovery Bay, Jamaica for 13 years. In 1986, they were collected, slabbed, and examined for bioeroding infauna. Taxa varied in their ability to penetrate the non-calcareous cement matrix. Polychaetes and the bivalve, Lithophaga, bored all substrata easily, although the polychaetes preferred the cement. The sponges, Cliona and Damiria, …