This may look like a sea monster from the depths but the piece of tree trunk, which has washed ashore on the Westcountry coast, gives a rare glimpse of Goose Barnacles which normally live in open water.
The barnacles usually spend their lives attached to driftwood, ships’ hulls and other floating objects.
This group had firmly attached themselves in vast numbers to the passing tree trunk, which after probably drifting round the ocean for many months, finally washed ashore at Crackington Haven near Bude in Cornwall, last week.
Balanced across the black rocks, the barnacles hung like strings of pearls from the sea-smoothed trunk creating an almost mythical sea creature sculpture.
The barnacles can grow to 4cm in length and catch passing food using extendable feather like appendages. They attach themselves to their chosen raft or rock by means of a retractable, incredibly strong stalk known as a peduncle, which can measure up to 15cm and which holds the barnacle firmly secure even in the roughest seas.
In medieval days, the barnacles’ appearance were thought to be the eggs of the Barnacle Goose.
Goose barnacles catch passing for using extendible feather-like appendages.
In Portugal and Spain, the barnacles are a widely consumed and expensive delicacy known as percebes.
They have a briny taste and are served steaming hot with their triangular shells still attached.
