You might think barnacles aren’t much too look at, but I hope today’s post makes you change that idea. This is a series of three images, each one focusing closer on the subject of today’s post: barnacles. Yes, the lowly Arthropoda Crustacea Maxillopoda Thecostraca, the bane of sailors and harbormasters.
This flat rock sits at the high tide line, which is clearly marked by the thick band of white barnacles near the sand. I loved this rock so much I hiked out the second day with a better camera to take this image.
Move closer to that white band and you can see individual barnacles, clumped together in a space about 8 inches wide. And an errant mussel, photobombing the party.
Look even closer, at another section of that rock, and you’ll see two sets of barnacle remains. The left side is shells left behind, and the right side is where shells have washed away and left just the glue-y white stuff behind. The left side sticks up from the rock, full of finger-shredding rough edges while the white side is smooth and a bit silky to the touch.
Barnacles. Beautiful in their own right. And not just for piers, pilings, and ship bottoms anymore.
Her fingers moved among barnacles and mussels, blue-black, sharp-edged. Neon red starfish were limp Dalis on the rocks, surrounded by bouquets of stinging anemones and purple bursts of spiny sea urchins.
Janet Fitch
(Images taken at Face Rock Beach at Bandon, Oregon, November 2019)
I can’t hear the word “barnacles” without thinking of Captain Haddock from the Tintin comics, famously exclaiming “Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!!” And I never knew what they were until now! :). Lovely post, lovely pics.
It’s amazing what you see when you stop, get up close, and really look. The second photo is definitely my favorite… Love the mussel just hanging out, acting natural, like he totally belongs at this party… Ha!
Wow, all are such beautiful images Annie. I look forward to returning to the beach in 2020.
Thanks, Vida! And yes, beach is definitely something to visit, or maybe that beautiful seawall you have in Vancouver!
I love Bandon. Maybe I should retire there and look at barnacles all day.
Hmm, retired-but-still-writing retirement home?