The Barnacle

Barnacle

Barnacles are particularly familiar to boat-owners, who usually detest them because they settle on the bottom of boats slowing down the speed of the boat, and generally creating a nuisance - Barnacle Bill was a sailor.

The barnacles we usually notice live high up on a rocky shore. When the tide is out they appear to be rather lifeless hard-shelled additions to the rocky surface (see inset photo). But if you sit down and watch a small tide-pool -- or better yet; add a bucket of fresh sea water to a small pool with barnacles -- you will notice the fascinating way barnacles feed with their legs (captured in the photo).

Barnacles have one of the most interesting sex lives of any animal. In a future article on this web site, we will explain the amazing life history and reproduction of this group of animals.