Drifting north

  

While walking a beach near the Garðskagi lighthouses (near the village of Garður on the Reykjanes Peninsula), I looked down to see a cluster of Blue Buoy Barnacles (Dosima fascicularis) in the wrack line.

Although we knew there were previous records of this species in Iceland, it felt a little surprising to see them.  Most of the records for this pelagic barnacle are from further south.  In California, we found these barnacles in Sonoma County during the warm-water events in 2014-2016 (e.g., see "Blue buoys!" on 31 August 2014).

Here's a close-up where you can see the thin, transparent plates.  You can also see the white foam-like float that the barnacles make to stay afloat at the surface of the ocean (upper left corner of the image).

 

 

 

And Eric took this beautiful photo of the cluster floating in the water next to the beach so you can envision them in their natural habitat.  [You can also see a piece of rockweed (Fucus sp.) at the lower right corner of the barnacle cluster (look for the orange color).  The barnacles might have attached to this piece of seaweed initially and then created their float around it.]

 

 

 

Fun to find this offshore barnacle at 64° North!

Blue on blue

  

Eric and I have been busy with lots of early morning field work recently.  As we were walking on a beach in Marin County this morning, I looked down to see a Blue Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) attached to a By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella).

Blue Buoy Barnacles are pelagic (offshore) barnacles that float at the surface of the ocean.  They are unusual in northern California and can be indicators of warm-water conditions, or water that's normally farther offshore coming closer to the coast.  I'll have to check my notes, but I think the last time we saw one in our area was ~10 years ago (back in 2016).

With the high numbers of Velella washing ashore at this time, the chances of finding Dosima are greater as this barnacle often attaches to Velella floats. 

We're interested in other observations of Blue Buoy Barnacles in northern California, so keep your eyes open and if you happen to come across one, I'd love to hear about it! 

P.S.  For an introduction to Blue Buoy Barnacles, see the post called "Blue buoys!" on 31 August 2014.  And more information (and a great video!) can be found in the post called "Driftin' blues" on 23 September 2014. 

A tribute

I've received a couple of reports of Red-striped Barnacles recently, including one from north of Fort Bragg, which is very far north for this species.  (Thanks, Michele!)

So I've been thinking about barnacles lately, and in general I'm just a big fan of this fascinating group of marine invertebrates.  Here are a few shots to celebrate them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order of appearance:

 

Red-striped Barnacle (Paraconcavus pacificus)

Blue Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis)

Giant Barnacle (Balanus nubilus)