divepix - Goose-neck Barnacle

Goose-neck Barnacle

Aspect:	White elongated shell (up to 4 cm tall) with small brown markings from which emerge brown cirri (tentacles) used by the animal to catch its small preys. They affix to almost any semi-submerged objects thanks to a stalk of dark, grainy appearance.
Population:	Very common throughout the world.
Notable feature:	Lepas are often mistaken for whitish mussels at first sight, but in fact are neither bivalves nor molluscs, but crustaceans in their own right. A hermaphrodite, it will survive in cold waters but will not reproduce in such environments
Environment:	Attach to any stray flotsam, metal and plastic boat hulls, ropes, mooring line, etc, in many seas of the world. Specimens attached to an aileron section believed to belong to flight MH370 will thus be of little help to identify the course followed by the part from its point of impact to a Reunion beach.
Behaviour:	Will retract into its shell if approached too aggressively.

More in this category: Sessile Barnacle »