Whale barnacle
| Coronulidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cryptolepas rhachianecti on a grey whale | |
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Maxillopoda |
| Subclass: | Cirripedia |
| Order: | Sessilia |
| Suborder: | Balanomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Coronuloidea |
| Family: | Coronulidae Leach, 1817 [1] |
| Genera [2] | |
| |
Whale barnacles are barnacles belonging to the family Coronulidae. Whale barnacles attach themselves to the bodies of baleen whales during the barnacles' free-swimming larval stage. Though often described as parasites, the relationship is an example of obligate commensalism, as the barnacles neither harm, nor benefit, their host.[3] A number of taxa formerly treated as subfamilies of Corolunidae are now considered separate families in their own right, including the turtle barnacles in the family Chelonibiidae.[4]
References
- ↑ Benny K. K. Chan (2012). "Coronulidae". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ↑ ITIS
- ↑ Yasuyuki Nogata & Kiyotaka Matsumura (2006). "Larval development and settlement of a whale barnacle". Biology Letters 2 (1): 92–93. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0409. PMC 1617185. PMID 17148335.
- ↑ Ryota Hayashi (2012). "Atlas of the barnacles on marine vertebrates in Japanese waters including taxonomic review of superfamily Coronuloidea (Cirripedia: Thoracica)". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 92 (1): 107–127. doi:10.1017/S0025315411000737.
External links
Data related to Coronulidae at Wikispecies
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