The goose barnacle Lepas hillii is a rare visitor to Britain. Separated from the common L. anatifera by its orange collar & brightly-edged shell plates, this tropical ocean drifter occurs only occasionally in odd ones & twos. So to discover 60+ on Scilly this week was truly remarkable! #MarineLife - ThreadSky

scottinscilly.bsky.social • 202 days ago

The goose barnacle Lepas hillii is a rare visitor to Britain. Separated from the common L. anatifera by its orange collar & brightly-edged shell plates, this tropical ocean drifter occurs only occasionally in odd ones & twos.

So to discover 60+ on Scilly this week was truly remarkable! #MarineLife

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sjurdur.bsky.social•202 days ago

Goose barnacle was a regular occurrence in the diet of great skuas on St Kilda. Pretty mysterious because they're not meant to be found in that area

stevedudley.bsky.social•202 days ago

Common enough in Orkney too. Find them regularly here on Westray.

scottinscilly.bsky.social•201 days ago

Fascinating that great skuas enjoy them! Birds here show very little interest in them when they wash ashore.

charlottecumming.bsky.social•202 days ago

Hi Scott, would you please record these on https://erccis.org.uk/submit-one-record
Thank you

scottinscilly.bsky.social•201 days ago

Done 🙌

charlottecumming.bsky.social•201 days ago

Thank you 💙🌊

wildlenslife.bsky.social•202 days ago

Gosh it’s beautiful!

mopbanana.bsky.social•202 days ago

Barnacles are so fucking cool

oh-that-guy.bsky.social•202 days ago

Probably best not to advertise this, as they're an overpriced and highly prized delicacy in Spain & Portugal--commanding over $100 per pound--and overfished near to extinction.
And they're not beyond harvesting them out of existence on foreign shores for profit alone.

https://youtu.be/vq59vxXE5eE?si=TkIPMuGmbWOkQUV0

oh-that-guy.bsky.social•202 days ago

The fishery is heavily regulated here, but poaching is serious.

scottinscilly.bsky.social•201 days ago

I wouldn’t worry, the species harvested in Iberia is Pollicipes pollicipes, a much more coastal and sedentary species. The Lepas spp. here have no value in the food market and are long range oceans drifters from the Gulf Stream. Colonies which wash ashore here are, unfortunately, doomed.

oh-that-guy.bsky.social•201 days ago

So, a "good news/bad news" situation for the barnacles.
Thx!

scottinscilly.bsky.social•201 days ago

Quite… nobody wants to eat them, but they’re going to die anyway! It’s a tough life at sea.

oh-that-guy.bsky.social•201 days ago

That it be... that it be.

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