''Lepas anserifera'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

goose barnacle Goose barnacles, 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. Goose barnacles formerly made up the taxonomic order Ped ...

or stalked

barnacle A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass 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 eros ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Lepadidae Lepadidae is a family of goose barnacles, erected by Charles Darwin in 1852. There are about five genera and more than 20 described species in Lepadidae. Genera These genera belong to the family Lepadidae: * ''Conchoderma'' von Olfers, 1814 (wha ...

. It lives attached to floating timber, ships' hulls and various sorts of

flotsam In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the rema ...

Description

''Lepas anserifera'' has a shell or capitulum enclosed in six white plates supported by a tough, flexible, orange stalk or peduncle. The capitulum is about long and the stalk a similar length. The limy plates are thick and sculptured and are in close contact with each other. The largest plates, the pair of scuta at the stalk end, are quadrangular with longitudinal furrows and a smooth umbonal area. The pair of terga at the free end are trapezoid and more furrowed than the scutum and the carina in between are wide and forked. The tergal flaps are yellow, giving a coloured rim to the plates in the living animal. The body concealed by these plates consists of a head and thorax with a vestigial abdomen. The head bears the mouthparts consisting of a labrum with fine teeth on the inner margin, a blunt palpus, mandibles and maxillae. The thorax bears three pairs of

maxilliped An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

s and cirri with five or six pairs of long feeding appendages. The caudal appendages are curved and pointed which helps distinguish ''Lepas anserifera'' from other species.''Lepas anserifera''
Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2011-11-28.''Lepas anserifera'' Linnaeus, 1767
Taiwan Barnacles. Retrieved 2011-11-28.

Distribution

''Lepas anserifera'' has a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...

being found chiefly in temperate and tropical seas. It is normally found growing in clusters and anchored by its peduncle to driftwood and other floating objects, including

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s.''Lepas anserifera''
SaltCorner. Retrieved 2011-11-28. It is sometimes found washed up on beaches still attached to this flotsam.

Biology

''Lepas anserifera'' is a

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

. The life cycle is complex and involves a nauplius and a

cyprid A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass 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 ...

larval stage during which the animal is mobile and forms part of the plankton. The larva then settles on a suitable surface before undergoing

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

and becoming a

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, pedunculate juvenile. ''Lepas anserifera'' is a

filter feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

. The feather-like cirri are repeatedly fanned out and then retracted inside the plates to create a current and draw in

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

and

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

for consumption.Goose Barnacles: Undulating Creatures
Retrieved 2011-11-28.

Etymology and mythology

Before about 1100 AD, the

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of birds was not understood. The

brant goose The brant or brent goose (''Branta bernicla'') is a small goose of the genus ''Branta''. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra. The Brent oilfield was named after ...

and the

barnacle goose The barnacle goose (''Branta leucopsis'') is a species of goose that belongs to the genus '' Branta'' of black geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey ''Anser'' species. Despite its superficial ...

winter in Britain, Ireland, and

Northwestern Europe Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The region can be defined both geographically and ethnographically. Geographic definitions Geographically, Northw ...

, but breed in the far North so that the nests, eggs, and goslings were unknown. Goose barnacles including ''Lepas anserifera'' are so called because it was thought at that time that the birds hatched from the goose barnacles found in floating "nests" on the beach.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3809070 Barnacles Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans of the Indian Ocean Crustaceans of the Pacific Ocean Crustaceans described in 1767 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus