Likely Reef Tank Suitable
Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable
Range: Temperate and tropical seas.
Size: 2 inches (4 cm)
Natural Environment: Generally found in clusters and attached to floating material and other hard-based floating substrate, including whales and live their lives attached to one spot.
Aquarium Suitability: A filter feeder and rarely seen in the trade, however, if living near the oceans, can possibly be collected from washed up debris on the beach.
Even though a harmless species, its basically unsuitable for average home aquariums due to its need for a constant supply of plankton and turbulent water movement to survive, which would result in an extremely high nutrient level, very possibly leading to unwanted algae problems.
Best suited to a 'species' system designed with major filtration equipment so as to maintain water quality!
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Maxillopoda
Subclass: Thecostraca
Infraclass: Cirripedia (Curl-footed)
Superorder: Thoracica
Order: Pedunculata
Suborder: Lepadomorpha
Family: Lepadidae
FYI: Called a goose barnacle because its shape resembles that of a goose.