Volcano Barnacle (Tetraclita sp.)
Barnacles are crustacea and not molluscs. In their larval stage,
they look like tiny shrimps.When a larvae finds a good spot to
settle down, it releases cement from the tips of its first pair of
antennaes and glues itself head down on the surface. It then
secretes a thick shell made up of a series of plates. Inside the
shell is a segmented body and six pairs of segmented legs modified
into feathery appendages. At high tide, the animal waves its legs
outside the shell to filter feed and breathe, as the legs also
contain the gills.
