gooseneck barnacle ~ 09/01/12 ~ Asilomar Beach

gooseneck barnacle

Lepas sp.

I'm hoping some of my blog readers may be able to direct me to decent links about these 5-plated flattened barnacles I found attached to the holdfast of a bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana). My best guesses would be first Lepas pacifica and second possibly Lepas anatifera. However, my main issue with these IDs is the plates are not primarily white. Does the color change as the barnacle ages? Also, there are other Lepas spp. that are not readily found pictured online. It was amazing to watch these open up to show their feathery appendages and wave around on their translucent stalks (not to be confused with the caramel-colored haptera of the kelp). Click on the pictures to see them up close.

barnacles ~ 11/03/11 ~ Morro Strand Beach

leaf barnacle / goose barnacle among acorn barnacle
Pollicipes polymerus (formerly Mitella polymerus) among Balanus glandula

thatched barnacle
Semibalanus cariosus

I'm trying to get outside of my comfort zone and ID things I know very little about. Many people would recognize a barnacle, but I think few would know particular species. Indeed, as I was researching, there seems to be conflicting information about the identity of some very common barnacles. I may change the embedded links as I look into this some more.

acorn barnacle ~ 06/17/10 ~ Coast Guard Pier

red-striped acorn barnacle
Balanus pacificus

Amazingly, this is an arthropod. Can you believe? This is a big specimen at 32mm along its base. I admit to bringing it home from the commercial boat loading dock parking lot and am not sure what to do with it now. Is it still alive? I'm tempted to get a bucket of ocean water to see if it'll open up. I'm making a huge guess as to its ID since there's not a lot of online information for barnacle species. Mainly, because of its size, I'm thinking it must be a Megabalanus. I did find a wonderful marine blog from across the pond while searching for the ID: Jessica's Nature Blog.

ps 11/30/13 - I originally posted this as Megabalanus californicus, but the variation of reported sizes, 30 mm to 60 mm, has continued to bother me.  So, I'm going with the smaller locally found Balanus pacificus as listed in The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life of California.  Part of my problem for tracking an ID is that a couple of my favorite sites (like Walla Walla University and Washington State University) are too far north to include this pretty barnacle, which reportedly ranges from Chile and Peru to Monterey Bay.