Barnacle

A barnacle is a type of arthropod, in the class Crustacea and as such distantly related to the crabs and lobsters. However, barnacles are in the order Cirripidea. There are 1,220 barnacle species.

The barnacle spends its early life as part of the plankton, floating wherever the wind, waves, currentss, and tides send it, surrounded by a bivalve shell. It then settles down in an area where environmental cues indicate is a safe and productive environment. It sticks its legs in the air, and develops six hard plates to surround the body. For the rest of its life it is cemented to the ground, using the feathery legs to capture plankton and gametes when spawning. It is usually found in the intertidal zone.