Pacific Acorn Barnacle

balanus glandula

The Pacific Acorn Barnacle is a tiny animal that sticks to rocks and shells in the ocean. They have a hard shell that looks like a little acorn, and they open up to eat tiny food from the water!

Hábitat: Rocky shores and tidal pools along the Pacific coast.

Aspecto

The Pacific Acorn Barnacle is a small, whitish-grey cone with a rough, often ridged surface. Its top has a diamond-shaped opening made of four movable plates. It looks like a tiny volcano glued to rocks, distinct from smooth, flat limpets.

ReinoAnimaliaFiloArthropodaClaseMaxillopodaOrdenSessiliaFamiliaBalanidaeGéneroBalanus

Pacific Acorn Barnacle

Categoría

Invertebrate

Rareza

Common

Peligro

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Snaps

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Datos interesantes

Barnacles are actually crustaceans, which means they are related to crabs and lobsters!

Some barnacles can live for many years, often ten times longer than a pet hamster!

They spend their whole adult life upside down, sticking their head to a rock!

Wow! Baby barnacles swim like tiny shrimp before finding a spot to glue down!

Habilidades especiales

Pacific Acorn Barnacle can make an incredibly strong natural cement because of specialized glands that helps them stick to rocks forever.

Pacific Acorn Barnacle has feathery 'cirri' legs that helps them sweep tiny food particles from the ocean water.

Pacific Acorn Barnacle can close its shell plates because of strong muscles that helps them stay safe and moist during low tide.

Pacific Acorn Barnacle has both male and female parts that helps them reproduce even when neighbors are scarce.

Medidas y detalles

Longitud: 1.5 cm
Peso: 0.5 g
Esperanza de vida: 10 años
Appendage Count: 12
Tamaño de la colonia: hundreds_to_thousands
Shell Hardness: 3 Mohs

Dieta y alimentación

They sweep tiny ocean critters and plant bits from the water using their feathery legs.

Alimentos principales

plankton
algae spores
detritus
larval invertebrates

Método de búsqueda

Filter Feeding

Conexiones ecológicas

eaten by

Ochre Sea Star

Pisaster ochraceus

Pries open shells to eat the soft body.

eaten by

Emarginate Dogwinkle

Nucella emarginata

Drills a tiny hole through the shell.

eaten by

Tidepool Sculpin

Oligocottus maculosus

Nips at the feathery feeding legs.

Rasgos

Social

Los animales sociales viven en grupos organizados, cooperando para obtener beneficios de supervivencia como la búsqueda de alimento, la defensa y la cría de descendencia.

Filtrador

Los filtradores obtienen nutrientes filtrando partículas de alimentos suspendidos y pequeños organismos del agua.

Costero

Los hábitats costeros son entornos dinámicos situados a lo largo de la interfaz entre la tierra y el mar, influenciados por las mareas, las olas y el agua salada.