  In this paper we are interested in modeling the production of mucus by
diatoms under the constraint of a nutrient limitation. The initial questioning
comes from the observation of the so-called ''liga'' on the Aquitaine coast.
The biological origin of the phenomenon is presented and discussed based on the
existing litterature.A mathematical model is proposed and its theoretical
properties are analized: well-posedness and differentiability with respect to
the model parameters.Finally, numerical experiments are provided, investigating
the possibility of parameter identification for the model using chemostat-type
experiments.
