Table 6.

Various definitions of epibiosis in the literature.

Definition	Reference
Any relationship between two organisms in which one grows on the other but is not parasitic on it.	[26]
A relationship between two organisms, one of which lives or grows on the other, but is not parasitic on it.	[99]
The spatial association between a substrate organism (“basibiont”) and a sessile organism (“epibiont”) attached to the basibiont’s outer surface without trophically depending on it.	[97]
A spatially close association between 2 or more organisms belonging to the same or different species.	[98]
Epibiosis is a facultative association of two organisms: the epibiont and the basibiont. The term “epibiont” includes organisms that, during the sessile phase of their life cycle, are attached to the surface of a living substratum, while the basibiont lodges and constitutes a support for the epibiont.	[37]