Goose barnacle

{{Short description|Type of barnacle}} {{distinguish|Barnacle goose}} {{Paraphyletic group | auto = yes | image = Pollicipes cornucopia.jpg | image_caption = ''Pollicipes pollicipes'' | taxon = Thoracica | authority = Lamarck, 1818 }}

'''Goose barnacles''' or '''stalked barnacles''' are any of several species of filter-feeding crustaceans characterized by a fleshy stalk of which one end is connected to an armored capitulum and the other end is used by the animal to attach to substrates such as intertidal rocks, flotsam or larger animals.

Their resemblance of appendages of other species has earned this form of barnacle an array of common names. In Iberia, the species ''Pollicipes pollicipes'' is culinarily important and is called ''percebes'' ({{singular}} {{wikt-lang|es|percebe}}), derived from the Early Medieval Latin words for thumb and foot''.''<ref name="DCELC">{{cite book|page=740 |title=Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana |language=es|volume= III: L-RE|author-link=Joan Coromines |first=Joan |last=Coromines|date=1954 }}</ref> The closely related ''Pollicipes polymerus'' is known in its North American range as gooseneck or leaf barnacle.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Gooseneck Barnacles |url=https://oregontidepools.org/index.php/species-guide/gooseneck-barnacles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251208202659/https://oregontidepools.org/index.php/species-guide/gooseneck-barnacles |archive-date=2025-12-08 |access-date=2026-04-12 |website=Oregon Tidepools |publisher=Oregon Parks and Recreation Department |language=en-gb}}</ref> The species eaten by people in Asia, ''Capitulum mitella'', is known in Japan as turtle hand barnacle (亀の手 or カメノテ), while Chinese vernacular alludes to the legs or claws of crabs (石蜐), turtles (龟足) and dogs (狗爪), the comb of chickens (鸡冠), and the hands of Buddha (佛手) or Guanyin (观音掌).<ref>{{Cite web |title=カメノテ【宇和島市観光物産協会】 |url=http://www.uwajima.org/special/vol5/kamenote.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415123811/http://www.uwajima.org/special/vol5/kamenote.html |archive-date=2019-04-15 |access-date=2026-04-12 |website=www.uwajima.org |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=贵过龙虾、鲜过螃蟹的它，为何被称作“来自地狱的海鲜”？_凤凰财经 |url=https://finance.ifeng.com/a/20170905/15649216_0.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260412185229/https://finance.ifeng.com/a/20170905/15649216_0.shtml |archive-date=2026-04-12 |access-date=2026-04-12 |website=finance.ifeng.com}}</ref>

== Classification == Goose barnacles have been classified across multiple orders of the infraclass Thoracica along with acorn barnacles. They had been grouped into the taxonomic order '''Pedunculata,''' until research beginning in the 1960s and chiefly led by William A. Newton found the group to be polyphyletic.<ref name="Chan2021" /><ref name="Buckeridge2006" /><ref name="worms" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Antarctic Cirripedia: monographic account based on specimens collected chiefly under the United States Antarctic research program, 1962-1965 |date=2010 |publisher=American Geophysical Union |isbn=978-0-87590-114-5 |editor-last=Newman |editor-first=William A. |series=Antarctic research series |location=Washington |editor-last2=Ross |editor-first2=Arnold E.}}</ref>

Like all barnacles, stalked species begin life with two distinct planktonic larval stages, after which they permanently attach themselves to various substrates with adhesive secreted from their characteristic stalks. The buoy barnacle ''Dosima fascicularis'' is an exception, as adults sometimes detach after metamorphosis and drift freely on floats formed by their own foamy secretions, sometimes in aggregations of many individuals.<ref>{{Citation |last=Thiel |first=Martin |title=The Ecology of Rafting in the Marine Environment. Ii. the Rafting Organisms and Community |date=2005-06-24 |work=Oceanography and Marine Biology |volume=20051650 |pages=279–418 |editor-last=Gibson |editor-first=R |url=http://www.crcnetbase.com/doi/abs/10.1201/9781420037449.ch7 |access-date=2026-04-12 |publisher=CRC Press |language=en |doi=10.1201/9781420037449.ch7 |isbn=978-0-8493-3597-6 |last2=Gutow |first2=Lars |editor2-last=Gordon |editor2-first=J |editor3-last=Atkinson |editor3-first=R|hdl=10533/176158 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Various species prefer different substrates. The ''Pollicipes'' and ''Capitulum'' species consumed by humans as mentioned above all select intertidal rocks. Unlike most other types of barnacles, these species depend on water motion rather than the movement of their cirri for feeding, so are found only on exposed or moderately exposed coasts.

Other goose barnacle species, including most in the family ''Lepadidae'' are flexible to select substrates opportunistically, which gives them pelagic, cosmopolitan distribution. Humans most frequently encounter pelagic species such as ''Lepas anatifera'' on tidewrack on oceanic coasts.<ref name=":0" />

The parasitic ''Anelasma squalicola'' is another exception to the patterns above, lacking both a hard shell and the feeding function of its cirri. It instead embeds into the flesh of several species of deep-sea squaloid sharks, extracting nutrition from its host. [[File:PSM V04 D585 The goose tree.jpg|thumb|upright|"The goose-tree" from Gerard's ''Herbal'' (1597), displaying the belief that goose barnacles produced barnacle geese.]] == Spontaneous generation == {{main|Barnacle goose myth}}

In the days before birds were known to migrate, barnacle geese, ''Branta leucopsis'', were thought to have developed from this crustacean through spontaneous generation, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe,<ref name="Allaby">{{cite book |author=Michael Allaby |year=2009 |title=Animals: from Mythology to Zoology |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-6101-3 |chapter=Barnacles |pages=75–77 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtKZ12YN9qcC&pg=PT91}}</ref> hence the English names "goose barnacle" and "barnacle goose", and the scientific name ''Lepas anserifera'' ({{langx|la|anser}}, "goose"). The confusion was prompted by their similarities in colour and shape. Because they were often found on driftwood, the barnacles were assumed to be attached to branches before they fell in the water. The archdeacon of Brecon, Gerald of Wales, made this claim in his ''Topographia Hiberniae''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Beatrice White |year=1945 |title=Whale-hunting, the barnacle goose, and the date of the "Ancrene Riwle". Three notes on Old and Middle English |journal=The Modern Language Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=205–207 |doi=10.2307/3716844 |jstor=3716844}}</ref>

Since barnacle geese were thought to be "neither flesh, nor born of flesh", they were allowed to be eaten on days when eating meat was forbidden by some Christian churches,<ref name="Allaby"/> though it was not universally accepted. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II examined barnacles and noted no evidence of any bird-like embryo in them, and the secretary of Lev of Rožmitál wrote a very skeptical account of his reaction to being served the goose at a fast-day dinner in 1456.<ref>Henisch, Bridget Ann, ''Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society.'' The Pennsylvania State Press, University Park. 1976. {{ISBN|0-271-01230-7}}, pp. 48–49.</ref>

== Biomedical research == One component of'' L. anatifera'' that continues to be researched today is the adhesive properties of its secretion. Following an observational study regarding the adhesive properties of goose barnacle, its adhesive gland cells were located inside the muscle layer on the back side of the main stalk (peduncle). These glands secrete protein-based adhesive to make attaching the barnacles to fixed or mobile entities possible. This research in the barnacle adhesive serves as inspiration to the healthcare community to conduct their own research in an attempt to improve medical adhesive.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gan |first1=Kesheng |last2=Liang |first2=Chao |last3=Bi |first3=Xiangyun |last4=Wu |first4=Jizhe |last5=Ye |first5=Zonghuang |last6=Wu |first6=Wenjian |last7=Hu |first7=Biru |date=2022-04-25 |title=Adhesive Materials Inspired by Barnacle Underwater Adhesion: Biological Principles and Biomimetic Designs |journal=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |language=English |volume=10 |doi=10.3389/fbioe.2022.870445 |doi-access=free |issn=2296-4185 |pmc=9097139 |pmid=35573228}}</ref>

==As food== [[File:Percebes.iguaria.jpg|thumb|Goose barnacles served in a Spanish restaurant in Madrid.]]

In Portugal and Spain, ''P. pollicipes'' is a widely consumed and expensive delicacy known as '''''percebes''''', which are harvested commercially on the northern Iberian coast, mainly in Galicia and Asturias, and on the southwestern Portuguese coast (Alentejo), as well as imported from other countries within its range of distribution, particularly from Morocco. A larger species (''P. polymerus'') was also exported from Canada, until the Department of Fisheries and Oceans closed this fishery on {{date|1999-05-31}}.<ref name="DFO1999-GooseBarnacle">{{cite report |title=Goose Barnacle |author=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |year=1999 |publisher=DFO Science Stock Status Report C6-06 (1999) |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/mpo-dfo/Fs76-1-C6-06-1999-eng.pdf |access-date=31 January 2026 |type=Stock status report |series=Fs76-1/C6-06-1999E-PDF }}</ref>

In Spain, ''percebes'' are lightly boiled in brine and served whole and hot under a napkin. To eat them, the diamond-shaped foot is pinched between thumb and finger and the inner tube pulled out of the scaly case. The claw is removed and the remaining flesh is swallowed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/730170/Percebes-Grail-trail.html |title=Percebes: Grail trail |date=23 April 2004 |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=2024-04-07}}</ref> Historically, the indigenous peoples of Central California ate the stems of ''P. polymerus'' after cooking them in hot ashes.<ref name=Heizer>{{cite book |last1=Heizer |first1=Robert F. |last2=Elsasser |first2=Albert B. |title=The Natural World of the California Indians |date=1980 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03896-7 |pages=89-90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpvrxVA0PGYC&dq=%mitella+polymerus&pg=PA90 }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|32em|refs= <ref name=worms> {{Cite web| title=World Register of Marine Species, Thoracica |url=http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1107 |website=marinespecies.org | access-date=2021-08-26 }}</ref>

<ref name=Chan2021> {{Cite journal | title = The evolutionary diversity of barnacles, with an updated classification of fossil and living forms |year = 2021 | last1 = Chan | first1 = Benny K. K. | last2 = Dreyer | first2 = Niklas | last3 = Gale | first3 = Andy S. | last4 = Glenner | first4 = Henrik | last5 = Ewers-Saucedo | first5 = Christine | last6 = Pérez-Losada | first6 = Marcos | last7 = Kolbasov | first7 = Gregory A. | last8 = Crandall | first8 = Keith A. | last9 = Høeg | first9 = Jens T. | display-authors = 4 | journal = Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume = 193 | issue = 3 | pages = 789–846 | doi = 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa160| doi-access = free | hdl = 11250/2990967 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

<ref name=Buckeridge2006> {{Cite journal | title = A revision of the Iblidae and the stalked barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Thoracica), including new ordinal, familial and generic taxa, and two new species from New Zealand and Tasmanian waters |year = 2006 | last1 = Buckeridge| first1 = John| last2 = Newman| first2 = William | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 1136 | page = 1 | doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.1136.1.1| doi-access = free }}</ref> }}

== External links == * {{commons category-inline|Thoracica}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Thoracica}}

Category:Barnacles Category:Edible crustaceans Category:Seafood in Native American cuisine Category:Arthropod common names