Large waves have brought a lot of plastic to the beaches recently (always depressing). This piece had a small Blue Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) attached to it. In 2014, we found Blue Buoy Barnacles in August and September. In 2015, we encountered them again, but during May and June. And now this is our first record for Dosima in January. I'm not sure if the presence of this species is related to warmer water, but the ocean off Bodega Head has warmed up again recently — it reached ~14°C (57°F) this week.
Eric also spotted some of the more common pelagic gooseneck barnacles. This clump was attached to a rope tangled up in kelp:
Lepas anatifera, Salmon Creek Beach, 29 January 2016
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