The characterization of evolutionary and biogeographical patterns is of fundamental importance to identify factors driving biodiversity. Due to their widespread but discontinuous distribution, deep-sea hydrothermal vent barnacles represent an excellent model for testing biogeographical hypotheses regarding the origin, dispersal and diversity of modern vent fauna. Here, we characterize the globa...

In aquatic systems, physiological processes such as respiration, photosynthesis and calcification are potentially limited by the exchange of dissolved materials between organisms and their environment. The nature and extent of physiological limitation is, therefore, likely to be dependent on environmental conditions. Here, we assessed the metabolic sensitivity of barnacles under a range of wate...

7 Recruitment is a key demographic process for population persistence. This paper focuses on 8 barnacle (Semibalanus balanoides) recruitment. In rocky intertidal habitats from the Gulf of St. 9 Lawrence coast of Nova Scotia (Canada), ice scour is common during the winter. At the onset of 10 intertidal barnacle recruitment in early May (after sea ice has fully melted), mostly only adult 11 barna...

A new study on a parasitic barnacle that lives on a deep sea shark found that its closest living relatives are rocky shore barnacles. The findings provide insight into barnacle phylogeny and raise new questions about the evolution of parasitism.

Most free-living barnacles are hermaphroditic, and eggs are presumed to be fertilized either by pseudo-copulation or self-fertilization. Although the common northeast Pacific intertidal gooseneck barnacle, Pollicipes polymerus, is believed only to cross-fertilize, some isolated individuals well outside penis range nonetheless bear fertilized eggs. They must therefore either self-fertilize or-co...

The highly specialized coronulid barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis attaches exclusively on cetaceans worldwide, but little is known about the factors that drive the microhabitat patterns on its hosts. We investigate this issue based on data on occurrence, abundance, distribution, orientation, and size of X. globicipitis collected from 242 striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) that were stran...

Mobile species may actively seek refuge from stressful conditions in biogenic habitats on rocky shores. In Hong Kong, the upper intertidal zone is extremely stressful, especially in summer when organisms are emersed for long periods in hot desiccating conditions. As a result, many species migrate downshore between winter and summer to reduce these stressful conditions. The littorinids Echinolit...

The process of building organic-inorganic compound structures through biomineralization is extremely impressive and potentially very useful. During biomineral formation, organisms restructure simple, naturally occurring minerals in conjunction with their own organically produced minerals to create new structures, the functions of which often include protection or storage, among others. While th...