Goose barnacles
Goose barnacles are odd-looking crustaceans usually found in quite deep water. Occasionally they can be found on debris that has become dislodged from the sea bed and washed up on the shore. They are found in oceans the world over, except in Arctic regions.
About
Goose barnacles (order Pedunculata), also called stalked barnacles or gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks and flotsam in the ocean intertidal zone.
Some species of goose barnacles are pelagic and are most frequently found on tidewrack on oceanic coasts. Unlike most other types of barnacles, intertidal goose barnacles depend on water motion rather than the movement of their cirri for feeding, and are therefore found only on exposed or moderately exposed coasts.
In Portugal and Spain, they are a widely consumed and expensive delicacy known as percebes. Percebes are harvested commercially in the northern coast and are also imported from overseas, particularly from Morocco and Canada.
In the days before it was realised that birds migrate, it was thought that Barnacle Geese, Branta leucopsis, developed from this crustacean, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe, hence the scientific and English names. The confusion was prompted by the similarities in colour and shape. Because they were often found on driftwood, it was assumed that the barnacles were attached to branches before they fell in the water. The Welsh monk, Giraldus Cambrensis, claimed to have seen goose barnacles in the process of turning into barnacle geese in the twelfth century.
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Elsewhere on the web
- Goose barnacle facts (bluereefaquarium.co.uk)
- Article on barnacles (pznow.co.uk)
- Goose barnacle (wikipedia.org)
Site links
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