I never knew there was a fleshy animal living inside the razor sharp barnacle enclosures. Tuffy brought this cluster of barnacles that had grown around a black fishing net float. In many of the pictures I included a quarter so you can get an idea of the scale of these humongous creatures. I also got some pretty decent video of the creatures opening their enclosures and the organism alive coming in and out of it. It’s straight out of Aliens. There are many pictures on the Barnacle Wikipedia page but nothing like these. It is a very comprehensive wiki page and interesting reading about the life cycle,adult anatomy and fossil records of barnacles.
From Wikipedia-
Barnacle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia-
Thyrostraca, Cirrhopoda (meaning “curl-footed”), Cirrhipoda, and Cirrhipedia.
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have two nektonic larval stages. Around 1,220 barnacle species are currently known.[1] The name “Cirripedia” is Latin, meaning “curl-footed”.
Click on any of the pictures for the full sized versions- especially the first one where you can really see the moving organism. Video coming tonight
For comparisons sake look at the size of these barnacles which are more common and grow on our lobster traps. For scale the yellow wire they are attached to is less than a half a centimeter thick-
Alicia
blackswanbeth
Joanne
Paul F. Frontiero Jr.
Craig Kimberley
David B. Cox
Donna Ardizzoni
Ed Collard
E.J.
Sharon
Kim Smith
Fr Matthew Green
patrickr
Paul Morrison & RD
Manuel F. Simoes
S.D. Kelly
Thom Falzarano
they are wicked scary..
They are exquisity beautiful! Gems of the sea.
Okay, time to dip them in some corn meal batter and deep fry ‘em.
They eat boats (and anything else that gets in their way) !@#$%
The first photo, wonderful photo – looks like such a shy delicate alien creature looking us over.
soy sauce, sherry, ginger, scallions. steam.
and Metal teeth
Seriously, has anyone ever eaten one of these creatures? I only smashed ‘em for bait when I was a kid.
OMG Joey, Such phenomenal pictures. You deserve a prize for these. I love barnacles. If I ever found any like this I would puy it on my bookcase with all my lobsta , pirate, lighthouse & shell stuff and cherish it. Beautiful job.
I no longer feel safe going into the ocean knowing there is baseball size clusters of flesh eating creatures lurking beneath the waters surface…
How long before they grow to man eating proportions?. I hope we never find out.
Love these pics, spectacular! Thanks for sharing.
Pour white vinegar on them to make them die. The white vinegar is safe to use.