HRAP Online Encyclopedia

Barnacles

Often confused for rocks, barnacles are actually a member of the arthropod phylum along with crabs and shrimp. The outer shell protects the animal within from predators. When underwater, the shells will open and the barnacle will extend it’s “cirri”, a fan like appendage that is used to catch plankton. Like other arthropods, barnacles will shed their cirri exoskeletons periodically and these orange feather-like structures can be found in the tide pools or wrack line around Haystack. Barnacles grown on most of the rocks in the marine garden, when visiting please walk on the sand to avoid harming these little creatures.