Whale barnacles are species of acorn barnacle that belong to the family Coronulidae. They typically attach to baleen whales, and sometimes settle on toothed whales. The whale barnacles diverged from the turtle barnacles about three million years ago.
Whale barnacles passively filter food, using tentacle-like cirri, as the host swims through the water. The arrangement is generally considered commensal as it is done at no cost or benefit to the host. However, some whales may make use of the barnacles as protective armor or for inflicting more damage while fighting, which would make the relationship mutualistic where both parties benefit; alternatively, some species may just increase the drag that the host experiences while swimming, making the barnacles parasites.
After hatching, whale barnacles go through six molting stages before searching for a host, being prompted to settle by a chemical cue from the host skin. The barnacle creates a crown-shaped shell, and in most instances, deeply embeds itself into the skin for stability while riding a fast-moving host. The shell plates are made of calcium carbonate and chitin.
Whale barnacles may live for up to a year, and often slough off along migration routes or at whale calving grounds. Because of this, fossil whale barnacles can be used to study ancient whale distribution.
^"Coronulidae". Fossilworks. Gateway to the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference worms was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Whalebarnacles are species of acorn barnacle that belong to the family Coronulidae. They typically attach to baleen whales, and sometimes settle on toothed...
whale (whalebarnacles). The most common form, acorn barnacles, are sessile, growing their shells directly onto the substrate, whereas goose barnacles attach...
whales will deliberately rub themselves on substrate to dislodge parasites. Some species of barnacle, such as Conchoderma auritum and whalebarnacles...
intestines, whale lice Syncyamus pseudorcae and Isocyamus delphinii, and the whalebarnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis. Some strandings had whales with large...
whale. With some species of whale louse, whalebarnacle infestations play an important role. On the right whale, the parasites live mainly on callosities...
Goose barnacles, also called stalked barnacles or gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks and...
rhachianecti is a species of whalebarnacle that lives as a passenger on the skin of gray whales and certain other species of whale in the northern Pacific...
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing...
cypridocopine and cytherocopine modern ostracods. Oxygen-isotope analysis of a whalebarnacle specimen collected from early Pleistocene deposits of Apulia (Italy)...
of its species. The powerful flippers of humpback whales, often infested with large, sharp barnacles, are formidable weapons against orcas. When threatened...
Coronula diadema is a species of whalebarnacle that lives on the skin of humpback whales and certain other species of whale. This species was first described...
appearance is due to large colonies of whale lice, whalebarnacles and parasitic worms which reside on them. Young whales and diseased individuals are often...
South Africa. The acorn barnacle Coronula reginae and the stalked barnacle Conchoderma virgatum were each only found on 0.4% of whales caught off California...
Wood, Rachel (2014). "Occurrence of whalebarnacles in Nerja Cave (Málaga, southern Spain): Indirect evidence of whale consumption by humans in the Upper...
The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also known as the finback whale or common rorqual, is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean...
whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena: the North Atlantic right whale (E. glacialis), the North Pacific right whale (E...
S2CID 86354876. Ryota Hayashi (2012). "A checklist of turtle and whalebarnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Coronuloidea)". Journal of the Marine Biological...
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), also known as the grey whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches...
"Octonauts and the Orcas" Kwazii Barnacles (briefly) 12 October 2010 (2010-10-12) 5 February 2011 An enormous killer whale is stranded on a beach, and with...
three of the whales. The whale louse C. balaenopterae was found on the skin of four whales, while a single whale had the pseudo-stalked barnacle X. globicipitis...
pounds (1,400 kg). Right whales feed mainly on copepods and other small invertebrates such as krill, pteropods, and larval barnacles, generally by slowly...
Coronula is a genus of whalebarnacles, containing the following species (those known only from the fossil record are marked '†'): Coronula aotea Fleming...
infestation of the barnacle species Coronula diadema. Whale lice will promptly try to attach themselves to people when handling whales during processing...
communication. All regularly observed members of the order Cetacea, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, show a range of surfacing behaviours. Cetacea is...
The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered. On average and...