Dosima fascicularis

Dosima fascicularis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Thecostraca
Subclass:	Cirripedia
Order:	Scalpellomorpha
Family:	Lepadidae
Genus:	Dosima
Species:	D. fascicularis
Binomial name
Dosima fascicularis (Ellis & Solander, 1786)  [1]
Synonyms   [2]
List Lepas fascicularisEllis & Solander, 1786 Lepas cygneaSpengler, 1790 Lepas dilataDonovan, 1804 Pentalasmis spirulicolaLeach, 1818 Pentalasmis donovaniLeach, 1818 Anatiffia vitreaLamarck, Coates, 1829 Lepas fasciculataMontagu, Coates, 1829 Pentalepas vitreaLesson, 1830 Anatifa oceanicaQuoy & Gaimard in Dumont d'Urville, 1832-1835

Group of buoy barnacles attached to a float they constructed themselves

The buoy barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) is a species of goose barnacle known for its unique characteristic of hanging downwards from a buoyant appendage which drifts at the water surface and is carried along by ocean currents. It is regarded as "the most specialized pleustonic goose barnacle" ^[3] as most other barnacle species are sessile filter feeders that remain fixed onto other firm surfaces. Formerly placed in the genus Lepas , the buoy barnacle is now generally placed in the genus Dosima, which is distinguished from Lepas by the form of the carina , and by the exceptional thinness and brittleness of its exoskeleton. ^[4]

Flotation

See also: Ocean surface ecosystem

As an adult, D. fascicularis lives attached to a float made either of natural flotsam or of a cement it secretes itself, which has a texture like that of expanded polystyrene foam. ^[5] It is the only barnacle to produce its own gas-filled float. ^[2] The cyprid larvae are planktonic, and must attach to a float for metamorphosis into the adult form, but the adults are eventually capable of using their own float, sometimes forming aggregations of many individuals attached to a single float. Among the floats used by adult buoy barnacles are pellets of tar, ^[6] seaweeds, ^{[2] [7]} plastic debris, ^[7] driftwood, ^[7] feathers, ^{[2] [3]} cranberries, ^[2] cuttlefish bone, ^[2] the "by-the-wind-sailor" Velella velella , seagrass leaves, ^[3] Styrofoam, ^[6] seeds, ^[6] and even apples; ^[2] they have even been known to colonise the backs of turtles ^[8] and the sea snake Pelamis platurus . ^[9] It is a fugitive species, which can be out-competed by other barnacle species, and relies on being able to colonise surfaces and reproduce quickly; after settling on a float, D. fascicularis can reproduce within 45 days. ^[10] D. fascicularis appears to be increasing in abundance as a result of anthropogenic marine debris accumulating in the sea; ^[6] this source of floats was of "minor importance" in 1974. ^[3]

Distribution

D. fascicularis has a cosmopolitan distribution, with a preference for temperate seas, ^[11] having been found at latitudes from 71° North off Siberia to 57° South near Cape Horn. ^[2] Groups have been observed journeying from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, ^[2] and sometimes wash up on westerly and southerly beaches in the British Isles, as well as westerly beaches further south in Europe. ^{[5] [12]} It is not normally found in the Mediterranean Sea, but may have begun to colonise there from the Atlantic Ocean. ^[13]

References

1. "Dosima fascicularis (Ellis and Solander, 1786)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved February 27, 2011.
2. Norman E. Weisbord (1979). "Lepadomorph and verrucomorph barnacles (Cirripedia) of Florida and adjacent waters, with an addendum on the Rhizocephala". Bulletins of American Paleontology . 76 (306): 1–156.
3. Lanna Cheng; Ralph A. Lewin (1974). "Goose barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica) on flotsam beached at La Jolla, California" (PDF). Fishery Bulletin . 74 (1): 212–217.
4. Iván Hinojosa; Sebastián Boltaña; Domingo Lancellotti; Erasmo Macaya; Pabla Ugalde; Nelson Valdivia; Nelson Vásquez; William A. Newman; Martin Thiel (2006). "Geographic distribution and description of four pelagic barnacles along the south east Pacific coast of Chile - a zoogeographical approximation". Revista Chilena de Historia Natural . 79 (1): 13–27. doi: 10.4067/S0716-078X2006000100002 . hdl: 1893/19357 .
5. Guy Baker, Marine Life Information Network for Britain and Ireland (November 18, 2006). "Beach life". New Scientist . 2578: 83.
6. Dan Minchin (1996). "Tar pellets and plastics as attachment surfaces for lepadid cirripedes in the North Atlantic Ocean". Marine Pollution Bulletin . 32 (12): 855–859. Bibcode:1996MarPB..32..855M. doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(96)00045-8.
7. Martin Thiel; Lars Gutow (2005). The ecology of rafting in the marine environment II: the rafting organisms and community (PDF). Vol. 43. pp. 279–418. doi:10.1201/9781420037449.ch7 (inactive 12 July 2025). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
8. The Epibiont Research Cooperative (2007). "A synopsis of the literature on the turtle barnacles (Cirripedia: Balanomorpha: Cornuloidea) 1758–2007" (PDF). Epibiont Research Cooperative Special Publication. No. 1.
9. Fernando Alvarez; Antonio Celis (2004). "On the occurrence of Conchoderma virgatum and Dosima fascicularis (Cirripedia, Thoracica) on the sea snake Pelamis platurus (Reptilia, Serpentes) in Jalisco, Mexico". Crustaceana . 77 (6): 761–764. doi:10.1163/1568540041958536. JSTOR   20105754.
10. W. O. Blankley (1985). "Extreme r-selection in Lepas fascicularis within the Natal offshore fouling community". South African Journal of Science . 81: 701. Cited in Alvarez & Celis (2004).
11. Diana S. Jones (2003). "The biogeography of Western Australian shallow-water barnacles". In F. E. Wells; D. I. Walker; D. S. Jones (eds.). The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia (PDF). Western Australian Museum, Perth. pp. 479–496. ISBN   978-1-920843-07-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-03. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
12. P. J. Hayward; M. J. Isaac; P. Makings; J. Moyse; E. Naylor; G. Smaldon (1995). "Crustaceans". In P. J. Hayward; John Stanley Ryland (eds.). Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-west Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 289–461. ISBN   978-0-19-854055-7.
13. M. Sciberras; P. J. Schembri (2007). "A critical review of records of alien marine species from the Maltese Islands and surrounding waters (Central Mediterranean)". Mediterranean Marine Science . 8 (1): 41–66. doi: 10.12681/mms.162 .