This photograph was taken in California, off the coast of the Channel Islands. California is cold-water diving, with an abundance of life and diversity. The underwater topography around the Channel Islands is often encrusted in brilliant colors of rich pinks and oranges, as seen here. This pink color is due to a pseudo-coral, commonly called a strawberry anemone. One of the favorite places for a barnacle is amid the encrustation of strawberry anemones.
Banacles are born as free swimming larvae, and after seven molts, they acquire stalked eyes and a pair of hinged shells. They will then anchor themselves firmly down on a hard surface for the rest of their lives. As one zoologist wrote, a barnacle is ?a crustacean which is fastened by its head, lies on its back and kicks food into its mouth.? The kicking is done by means of feathery apendages that sweep the water for plankton.
