Species group · Barnacles
WAnimals has 2 species of barnacle, in the family Balanidae.
Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 2.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
Recorded in 17 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Joseph Connell's experiments with this species and with Chthamalus in the 1950s showed how competition and drying out sort intertidal life into bands, and are one of the foundations of modern ecology.
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It attaches to the rock with an adhesive protein that sets underwater and is being studied for developing surgical glues.
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Before settling, the larva explores the rock with its antennae and chooses the spot partly by the presence of other individuals of its own species.
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A barnacle is, in truth, a crustacean lying on its back kicking food into its mouth, as Louis Agassiz put it.
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Barnacles are hermaphrodites and, being unable to move, have the longest penis in the animal kingdom relative to body size, in order to reach their neighbours.
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The cement with which they attach is one of the strongest underwater adhesives known.
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