Balanus amphitrite (striped acorn barnacles) (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA) 1 (49765567523)

Description:

Description: Balanus amphitrite (Darwin, 1854) - striped acorn barnacles, modern (latest Holocene) The crustaceans are a large group of arthropods that inhabit marine, marginal marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. The crustaceans include crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, barnacles, ostracods, and other organisms. The oldest fossil crustaceans are in the Cambrian. The group experienced a significant radiation in the oceans during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. Seen here is a mass of striped acorn barnacles from Florida. Barnacles are sessile, benthic, filter-feeding, marine crustaceans that are obligate hard substrate encrusters. They are particularly common in intertidal, rocky shore environments. They can tolerate subaerial exposure during low tides but have to be in water at least occasionally. When submerged, they extend their feathery limbs to filter feed. The barnacle body is enclosed in a small, cinder cone volcano-shaped carapace composed of overlapping calcareous plates. Fossil barnacles first appear in Cambrian rocks. Striped acorn barnacles have a light-colored carapace with thin, purplish-colored stripes. This species is not native to Florida. Based on its fossil distribution, Balanus amphitrite is apparently native to the Indian Ocean and the southwestern Pacific Basin. It is now globally distributed in tropical and temperate, shallow marine environments. The species' geographic distribution is so widespread in modern seas as a result of human activity - the barnacles have frequently attached to ships that travel across entire ocean basins. Classification: Animalia, Arthropoda, Crustacea, Maxillopoda, Cirripedia, Sessilia, Balanidae Locality: Lighthouse Point beach, southern shore of the eastern tip of Sanibel Island, Gulf of Mexico coast of southwestern Florida, USA More info. at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibalanus_amphitrite. Date: 12 April 2020, 02:34. Source: Balanus amphitrite (striped acorn barnacles) (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA) 1. Author: James St. John.