Century-old #crustacean mystery solved: Parasitic #barnacles hijack host bodies through root-like networks https://phys.org/news/2025-07-century-crustacean-mystery-parasitic-barnacles.html

"Y-larvae have been studied in #plankton since the 1800s, but the real mystery is figuring out what they grow up to be... they are related to barnacles, but more as distant cousins... if we expose them to #crustaceans' growth hormone, they will hatch out of their little swimming larval shape into a slug-like body, which is similar to what parasitic barnacles do"

For #WorldOceanDay I thought I would share a print with both a vertebrate and invertebrate ocean species. This linocut and gel plate print shows the humpback whale swimming above and a close up of the whale below with six Coronula diadema barnacles.

The Coronula diadema name comes from its barrel and crown-like shape, which can grow to 5 cm (2”) tall and 6 cm (2.4”) in diameter.

#bullkelp afloat by a rocky beach.

For #ArtAdventCalendar day 3 my final hand-printed lino block print with gel plate printed areas is about Coronula diadema, a barnacle which specializes in humpback and some other baleen whales for #InsertAnInvert2024. Each print is 20.3 cm x 20.3 cm (8” x 8”) on lovely Japanese mulberry paper and shows the humpback whale swimming above and a close up of the whale below with six barnacles. 1/3

Here's Spud beside a 150(?) year old iron ring sunk into this granite which peeps out of the sand on Tormore beach. The iron looks as strong as the day it was placed there - maybe by the nearby granite quarries, which operated from late 1850s until 1917. #RossOfMull #dogsofmastodon #Sand #Barnacles

#Textures galore, at low tide times, on biodiverse, rocky beaches.

Barnacles

Macro shots of baby barnacles and details. The little ones are a few millimetres across.

#Barnacle bends shape to fend off warm-water #SeaSnails on the move
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-barnacle-fend-warm-water-sea-snails.html

Predator-induced defences under #tropicalisation: A biogeographic approach https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.14716

"Some #barnacles are morphing to protect themselves from predatory warm-water sea #snails, which are expanding into their territory due to #ClimateChange."

A Green Sea Turtle, aka Honu, shows off her barnacle. Your #Hawaii #sealife #photooftheday

#turtle #honu #tuesday #barnacles #OMsystems #olympus #TG

#Parasite of the Day: Rhizolepas sp. http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2023/09/rhizolepas-sp.html?utm_source=pocket_saves

"#Parasitism has evolved a few different times in #barnacles. Most belong to #rhizocephalans, which are body-snatchers of #crabs and #shrimps. Aside from them, there are two other known genera of #parasitic barnacles: #Anelasma squalicola - which is the bane of #DeepSea Squaliform #sharks, and then there's #Rhizolepas, a rare little #crustacean that parasitises #seafloor-dwelling aphroditid #ScaleWorms."

Barnacles could hold key to finding wreckage of Malaysia Airlines MH370
Scientists partially reconstruct debris drift path based on ocean temp data stored in shells.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/barnacles-could-hold-key-to-finding-wreckage-of-malaysia-airlines-mh370/ #MH370 #wreckage #crash #barnacles #ocean #temperature

For #American #Science Peeps!

#USPS has new #stamps!

Twenty different images of #microscopic #photography, including #RedBloodCells, #Macaw #feathers, legs of #barnacles, #mouse #neurons and more!

I'm tempted to get them just for decoration.

They are #ForeverStamps, always equivalent to the current first-class-mail one oz price.

https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/life-magnified-stamps-S_484004

Exceptional analysis of the 2021 #PNW #heat #dome.

OA https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36289-3

Quotes: “…(analyses of) deaths in metropolitan #Vancouver found that they were disproportionately in neighborhoods with higher #material and #social #deprivation and lower levels of #green #space…”

“…over one million #mussels were estimated to have died in a mere 100-m stretch of #shoreline…”

“…the #heatwave killed ~10 million #barnacles along a single 100-m stretch of #intertidal #habitat…”

#ClimateChange

Earth's first #animals had particular taste in real estate
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-earth-animals-real-estate.html

Spatial distributions of #Tribrachidium, #Rugoconites, and #Obamus from the #Ediacara Member (Rawnsley Quartzite), South Australia https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/abs/spatial-distributions-of-tribrachidium-rugoconites-and-obamus-from-the-ediacara-member-rawnsley-quartzite-south-australia/066B9AD6529D8E2958DB13FBC9551D5C

"Given the alien nature of #Ediacaran Earth, the researchers were surprised to find an #animal that lived much the way #barnacles do today."

Stop what you're doing! Important information! "For their size, barnacles possess the longest penis of any animal (up to eight times their body length)."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2600913/
#Barnacles #Biodiversity #Marine #MarineScience #Science #Zoology

I am late to this #InverteFest party, but this seems like a good time to show you my photo of this giant mess of Pelagic Gooseneck Barnacles (Lepas anatifera). I found this colony growing on a huge log that washed up on the beach of Olympic National Park, USA. The log washed away again on the next high tide. Bye bye barnacles!

(marked as sensitive content in case anyone finds this just a little bit creepy )

Day 16 of #ArtAdventCalendar a tight frame of corrosion and barnacles at #StAndrews west sands. #rust #Barnacles #photography

barnacles terrifying...