Goose Barnacle

Scientific name: Lepas pectinata
  • Updated
    30/06/26
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Lepas pectinata Click to enlarge image
Goose barnacles (Lepas pectinata) are shelled crustaceans that attach themselves to objects like piers. Image: Dr Isobel Bennett
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Lepas
    Species
    pectinata
    Family
    Lepadidae
    Order
    Pedunculata
    Subclass
    Cirripedia
    Subphylum
    Crustacea
    Phylum
    Arthopoda
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    2.5 cm

This and other goose barnacles have long rubbery stalks and are usually found in large groups either attached to floating objects, on wharves and piers or washed up on the shore.

Goose Barnacles are filter-feeding crustaceans.

Goose barnacles (Lepas pectinata) are filter-feeding crustaceans. They have a fleshy stalk, one end connecting to a capitulum (armour that protects the soft body) and the other to driftwood, piers, or intertidal rocks

Image: Simon Grove (TMAG)
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

Identification

Two major types of barnacles are found in Australian waters - the Goose Barnacle and the Acorn Barnacle. Both have a tough shell covering on the outside. Some people believe that barnacles are more closely related to snails than they are to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles, however, are very much crustaceans - using their jointed legs to catch small particles of food.

Habitat

Goose barnacles live on intertidal beaches and in coastal waters and oceans.

Distribution

Goose barnacles are found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Common overseas.

This map shows species occurrence observations from data recorded in the Atlas of Living Australia.

Behaviours and adaptations

Throughout the Middle Ages a legend evolved that goose barnacles were in fact goose eggs. It was believed that when geese disappeared in winter, their 'eggs' (or goose barnacles) floated back to shore.