Introduction
The survival and fitness of echinoderms in a marine environment, a habitat heavily populated by micro-organisms, suggest that they have developed a potent defensive mechanism that is part of an innate immune system (Tincu and Taylor 2004). The absence of fouling on many of these species indicates an effective defensive strategy to prevent the adhesion of bacteria, the first organisms that allow the formation of biofilm structures and fouling. With the aim of discovering new antimicrobial molecules, the echinoderm immune system was investigated as an unusual source of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with antibiofilm activity.