Balanus
BALANUS
CLASSIFICATION :
PHYLUM: ARTHROPODA (Jointed appendages)
SUB-PHYLUM: CRUSTACEA (Biramous appendages)
CLASS: CERRIPEDIA (Adults sessile /parasitic)
COMMENTS:
•Commonly called as Rock Barnacle.
•Stalk is absent to the shell covering animal is directly attached to the substratum or rocks.
•Head is short & broad.
• Mantle surrounding the body is covered six calcareous plates, consisting of unpaired carina, rostrum & 2 pairs of carino-lateral plates. Edges of the plates overlap & fit together forming a cylinder.
• opening of the shell is provided with a movable fourfold lid or operculum, composed of 2 scuta or 2 terga.
•In water, the barnacle protrudes through the opening six pairs of delicate, curled, fringed & jointed thoracic legs to collect food.
• Life cycle includes nauplius larva.
•Distribution: It has cosmopolitan distribution.
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