Acorn barnacle
Arthropoda – Cirripedia
Acorn barnacles have free-swimming larvae that attach themselves head-down onto hard surfaces, including rocks, jetties, boat hulls and even other marine animals and plants. As they grow, their external shell becomes a series of plates, and jointed legs develop into feathery appendages that trap plankton for food.
Did you know?
Barnacles are hermaphrodites – they have both male and female sexual organs. Barnacles can fertilise one another by using an extremely long penis or, if separated by long distances, they can fertilise themselves!
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds