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Gray whale rostrum covered in the endemic Cryptolepas rhachianecti barnacles and cyamids often called whale lice. Whale barnacles typically attach to baleen whales and have a commensal relationship–the barnacle benefits and the whale is neither helped nor harmed. [3] A single humpback whale may carry up to 450 kg (990 lb) of barnacles. [21]
Ectosymbiosis is defined as a symbiotic relationship in which one organism lives on the outside surface of a different organism. [3] For instance, barnacles on whales is an example of an ectosymbiotic relationship where the whale provides the barnacle with a home, a ride, and access to food.
Xenobalanus globicipitis is a species of pseudo-stalked barnacle. [1] It is usually spotted on the appendages of at least 34 species of cetaceans , commonly baleen whales and bottlenose dolphins . This species is not technically a true stalked barnacle , hence the 'pseudo' in its name.
Most barnacles are encrusters, attaching themselves to a hard substrate such as a rock, the shell of a mollusc, or a ship; or to an animal such as a whale (whale barnacles). The most common form, acorn barnacles , are sessile , growing their shells directly onto the substrate, whereas goose barnacles attach themselves by means of a stalk.
Microbial symbiosis in marine animals was not discovered until 1981. [3] In the time following, symbiotic relationships between marine invertebrates and chemoautotrophic bacteria have been found in a variety of ecosystems, ranging from shallow coastal waters to deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Symbiosis is a way for marine organisms to find ...
Coronula diadema is a species of whale barnacle that lives on the skin of humpback whales and certain other species of whale. [2] This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1767 12th edition of his Systema Naturae. [1]
The blowholes of a gray whale, with barnacle epibionts The tabulate coral Aulopora attached to the brachiopod Strophodonta, from the Middle Devonian of Wisconsin. An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, called the basibiont ("living underneath").
Ectosymbiosis is any symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont lives on the body surface of the host, including the inner surface of the digestive tract or the ducts of exocrine glands. [ 6 ] [ 25 ] Examples of this include ectoparasites such as lice ; commensal ectosymbionts such as the barnacles , which attach themselves to the jaw of ...