Balanus glandula
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 Balanus glandula with Chthamalus fissus
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| Balanus glandula Darwin, 1854 |
Balanus glandula, commonly called white acorn barnacle, is one of the most common barnacle species on the Pacific coast of North America, distributed from the U.S. state of Alaska to the border between California and the Mexican state of Baja California, commonly found in intertidal waters on mussels, rocks and pier pilings.
It is a moderate-sized barnacle with a length of about 15-20 mm. The shell is formed by overlapping plates. It is has more the shape of a cylinder than the shape of a cone. The white operculum has heavily ridged walls. It can live up to ten years.
It has been intensely studied in recent years as a model species for linking physical oceanography and population genetics (or phylogeography) surveys. This species has been introduced to the shores of Argentina in the past 30 years, and has become an invasive species, displacing other barnacles and mussels.
[edit] References
- Morris RH, Abbott DL, Haderlie EC (1980). Intertidal invertebrates of California. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
- iSpecies: Balanus glandula. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
