''Chelonibia testudinaria'' is a species of
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 erosive ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Chelonibiidae
Chelonibiidae is a family of turtle barnacles in the order Balanomorpha. There are at least three genera and about eight described species in Chelonibiidae.
Genera
These genera belong to the family Chelonibiidae:
* ''Chelonibia
''Chelonibia' ...
. It is native to the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Mexico where it lives as a
symbiont
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or paras ...
on sea turtles, being particularly abundant on the
loggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when ful ...
(''Caretta caretta'').
Taxonomy
Historically, the genus ''
Chelonibia
''Chelonibia'' is a genus of acorn barnacles in the family Chelonibiidae of the subphylum Crustacea.
Its members are epizootic and live attached to manatees, turtles, marine molluscs, crabs and horseshoe crabs in all tropical and subtropical oce ...
'' contained ''C. testudinaria'', found growing only on
sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...
s, and ''C. patula'', a generalist found growing on a range of living hosts including
decapods
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar gro