{{Short description|Species of whale barnacle}} {{speciesbox | image = Cryptolepas rhachianecti Dall, 1872 2013 000.JPG | genus = Cryptolepas | species = rhachianecti | authority = Dall, 1872<ref name=WoRMS>{{cite WoRMS |author=Van Syoc, Robert |year=2013 |title=''Cryptolepas rhachianecti'' Dall, 1872 |id=718598 |accessdate=27 January 2019}}</ref> }}
'''''Cryptolepas rhachianecti''''' is a species of whale barnacle that lives as a passenger on the skin of gray whales and certain other species of whale in the northern Pacific Ocean.
==Description==
''Cryptolepas rhachianecti'' can grow to a diameter of {{convert|3.8|cm|in|1|abbr=on}}.<ref name=busch/>
==Distribution== The species is now only known from the northern Pacific Ocean where gray whales are found. The gray whale was present in the northern Atlantic Ocean between the Late Pleistocene and recent times, and ''C. rhachianecti'' fossils have been found on a beach in the Netherlands, showing that the barnacle must also have been present.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Bosselaers, Mark |author2=Collareta, Alberto |year=2016 |title=The whale barnacle ''Cryptolepas rhachianecti'' (Cirripedia: Coronulidae), a phoront of the grey whale ''Eschrichtius robustus'' (Cetacea: Eschrichtiidae), from a sandy beach in The Netherlands |journal=Zootaxa |volume=4154 |issue=3 |pages=331–338 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4154.3.8 |pmid=27615844 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306362728 }}</ref> This barnacle has been found between January and March for several years in captive beluga whales in San Diego Bay, near a route used by migratory gray whales. The barnacles have evoked a skin reaction in the beluga whales resulting in the eviction of the barnacles, which suggests an immune response.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ridgway, S.H. |author2=Lindner, E. |author3=Mahoney, K.A. |author4=Newman, William |year=1997 |title=Gray whale barnacles ''Cryptolepas rhachianecti'' infest white whales, ''Delphinapterus leucas'', housed in San Diego Bay |journal=Bulletin of Marine Science |volume=61 |pages=377–385 |url=http://scrippsscholars.ucsd.edu/wnewman/content/gray-whale-barnacles-cryptolepas-rhachianecti-infest-white-whales-delphinapterus-leucas-hous |access-date=2019-01-31 |archive-date=2019-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145251/http://scrippsscholars.ucsd.edu/wnewman/content/gray-whale-barnacles-cryptolepas-rhachianecti-infest-white-whales-delphinapterus-leucas-hous |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Ecology== This barnacle is found attached exclusively to the skin of whales, almost always to the gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), but occasionally it has been found on the killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') and the beluga whale (''Delphinapterus leucas)''.<ref name=hayashi>{{cite journal|first=R.|last=Hayashi|year=2013|title=A checklist of turtle and whale barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Coronuloidea)|journal=Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom|volume=93|issue=1|pages=149–155|doi=10.1017/S0025315412000847}}</ref> On the gray whale, the barnacles embed themselves deeply in the skin and are mostly clustered on the animal's head and back. Crawling among the barnacles and taking advantage of the protection they provide are several species of ectoparasitic crustaceans known as whale lice, including the gray whale louse ''Cyamus scammoni'' and the generalist whale lice ''Cyamus ceti'' and ''Cyamus kessleri''. So common are these that an adult gray whale may be carrying several hundred pounds weight of barnacles and lice.<ref name=busch>{{cite book|url={{google books|plainurl=yes|id=owKh7oDYqgYC|page=61}}|first=R.|last=Busch|year=1998 |title=Gray Whales: Wandering Giants |publisher=Heritage House Publishing Co.|pages=61–62 |isbn=978-1-55143-114-7}}</ref> Gray whales have been observed rubbing their bodies against pebbly seabeds in an apparent effort to rid themselves of attached organisms.<ref name=busch/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q3698831}}
Category:Barnacles of the Pacific Ocean Category:Crustaceans of the eastern Pacific Ocean Category:Crustaceans described in 1872 Category:Taxa named by William Healey Dall