On holiday on the Dingle peninsula, south-west Ireland, this summer I spotted a sea creature I had never seen before. There were large numbers of them on the beach. I showed my photograph (right) to a local boatman and he thought that maybe they were related to the goose barnacle. Can any reader offer a positive identification and a description of the creature鈥檚 life cycle?
This is the buoy barnacle, Dosima fascicularis (see photo). Groups of these ocean-going crustaceans are supported by a float that they secrete, with a texture a bit like polystyrene foam.
Like by-the-wind sailors and the Portuguese man-of-war, these oceanic creatures drift at the mercy of the wind, waves and the ocean currents, sometimes pitching up in large numbers on a beach when a land mass gets in the way. Most of this year鈥檚 sightings have come from south-west Ireland although they are occasionally washed up elsewhere in Britain and Ireland.
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Their life history is similar to that of other barnacle species: planktonic larvae are produced by adults and after several growth stages will find a small floating object on which to settle and grow.
MarLIN at the Marine Biological Association welcomes records and sightings of marine life, which can be submitted online at . For more information see
Guy Baker, Marine Life Information Network for Britain and Ireland, Plymouth, Devon, UK