Buoy Barnacle

At a glance

Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) is a barnacle present across the CatchRules coverage area but without species-specific bag, size, or season rules tracked in our regulatory dataset.

Confirmed by 690 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with California, Maine, and Massachusetts the top jurisdictions by observation count.

Notable details

• Unlike rock-clinging barnacles, it secretes a bubbly foam float and drifts the open ocean its entire life.
• It never attaches to a hard substrate as an adult, relying entirely on its self-made float.
• Often found clustered on feathers, tar balls, by-the-wind sailor jellyfish, or plastic debris.
• Found worldwide wherever ocean surface currents concentrate floating material into drift lines.
• Like all barnacles, it is a crustacean — more closely related to crabs and shrimp than to clams.

Where Buoy Barnacle are seen

• California387 iNat obs
• Maine75 iNat obs
• Massachusetts50 iNat obs
• Nova Scotia41 iNat obs
• North Carolina28 iNat obs
• New York21 iNat obs

Background

Dosima fascicularis, the buoy barnacle, is "the most specialised pleustonic goose barnacle" species. It hangs downwards from the water surface, held up by a float of its own construction, and is carried along by ocean currents.

Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Buoy Barnacle article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.

Other barnacles on CatchRules

• Bay BarnacleAmphibalanus improvisus