tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4538854688181850095.post2142389946833950595..comments2021-02-02T10:42:31.652+00:00Comments on Stand and Stare: Trapped by the BarnaclesNyctalushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03529729794764990304noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4538854688181850095.post-1719780611767229662009-09-15T23:30:50.420+01:002009-09-15T23:30:50.420+01:00Hi Phil. There's another aspect to the barnacl...Hi Phil. There's another aspect to the barnacle-v-limpet contest which I've just discovered. Limpets graze on newly settled cypris larvae of the barnacles. So if it moves fast enough it might be able to hold back the encroaching hoards - for a while at least!<br /><br />I read a report once about the Torrey Canyon oil tanker break up which said that the oil spill killed off all the limpets and the following year what had been clean inter-tidal rocks were absolutely smothered in seaweed growth. Just shows the phenomenal scale of limpet grazing.Nyctalushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03529729794764990304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4538854688181850095.post-77782781629060852562009-09-15T22:32:03.523+01:002009-09-15T22:32:03.523+01:00Hi Rob. I suppose part of our problem is that we o...Hi Rob. I suppose part of our problem is that we only get to see these communities when the tide is out and all the beasts are tucked up tight. Its difficult, unless you take up diving, to have much chance to observe behaviour. Rock pools offer some insight but there must be so much that we just don't really know.Nyctalushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03529729794764990304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4538854688181850095.post-60442867672679863002009-09-15T22:13:26.127+01:002009-09-15T22:13:26.127+01:00Interesting thought. I notice that there's ano...Interesting thought. I notice that there's another much smaller limpet above and to the left of the big one, which appears to be partially smothered by barnacles and maybe even (fatally?)glued down to the rock by them. The other player in this conundrum is the dog whelk, that feeds on barnacles and is most likely the cause of all those empty 'volcanoes' in the picture. Sometimes you find dead limpets on the beach with a bunch of seaweed attached, that was probably instrumental in wrenching a limpet from its rock as the weed was battered in a storm - a case of a little bit of attached weed being camouflage for a limpet, too much being a fatal encumbrance. being attached to a limpet is probably the safest place for a juvenile seaweed, until it grows too large and brings about the demise of its anchor.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15609107148344256875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4538854688181850095.post-42897595653471098692009-09-15T08:55:03.102+01:002009-09-15T08:55:03.102+01:00That's a fascinating theory - I reckon you mus...That's a fascinating theory - I reckon you must be right. Limpets on the Sandown breakwaters are encrusted with barnacles and sometimes tiny forests of algae. I've never considered the consequences of the barnacled territory around them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com