Have you ever found a BARNACLE flower? They are beautiful clusters of BARNACLES that cement themselves to shells or other hard surfaces in intertidal areas which wash up on our beaches as perfect little BARNACLE blossoms like this…
When I was young, I thought BARNACLES were shells like SLIPPER SHELLS that attach themselves to HORSE CONCHS and WHELKS or like LIMPETS attaching to rocks and boat dock pilings. But they aren’t MOLLUSKS at all… they are CRUSTACEANS. They are in the same family as CRABS and LOBSTERS. Funny, huh?
I’ve even seen BARNACLES attaching themselves to SEA TURTLES, CRABS and even MANATEES. They don’t feed on these creatures they just hitch a ride for a lifetime and filter feed. I’ve seen several live BARNACLE clusters wash up in the surf lately so I was able to get a smidge of video before I quickly put it back in the water. You’ll see how the BARNACLES cement themselves head down on this APPLE MUREX shell while their legs come out searching for water to feed.
I haven’t spent much time scouring the beaches of SW Florida in the last month since the shelling has been…. well… it’s been a little slow. Yes, there are nice shell lines at Lighthouse Beach and there are lots of the more common shells lining Gulfside City Park but we have come to a stand still in bringing anything home unless it is something very different than we already have collected- like these BARNACLE FLOWERS. Clark and I have neglected to clean, sort and organize our treasures we have collected since I have been blogging… So this has been the perfect time to organize. I found this cute little jar to keep them separated from our other BLING so now I can easily find them if we find more to add. I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal… but honestly, this is a huge step to get us organized! So yes, I’m making headway in the Shellaboratory.
Now that I’ve started on organizing, I’m obsessed with it and can’t wait until it’s completed so I can show you. So while I’ve been shelling periodically at Gulfside City Park finding BARNACLE flowers and sorting through our finds from the past, Clark told me our friend Jim found a JUNONIA. Yes. A JUNONIA! He found it in the surf at Gulfside City Park Monday around 7pm. Jim’s wife Sue is the real sheller of the family and has never found a whole JUNONIA- dang it! They said that night they had only found one OLIVE in an hour or so when Jim saw color and spots in the surf that he scooped up with his shelling backhoe. Congratshellations Jim!
PS- Now I know what you are thinking… “impossible that perfect JUNONIA washed up when there were no other bigger shells coming in!”. Since we know Jim and he swears he didn’t play a trick on Sue, both Clark and I believe he found it in the water at Gulfside City Park. The conditions aren’t “optimal” to bring in deep water shells like the JUNONIA right now (high or continual west winds) but Mother Nature has a way of always keeping us guessing.
Explore with me! Join us Friday SEPTEMBER 12 on our iLoveShelling Cruise to Cayo Costa- CLICK HERE!
Pam,
Do you know the best way to clean the barnacles?
Olga, I didn’t clean mine- i only rinsed them. I was afraid using bleach would break them apart so I decided to keep them just like they are by only using fresh water. Let me know if you find something mild that doesn’t hurt them. :)
Great find Jim! I think the Super Sheller style backhoe was the good luck charm that found the nice junonia :) The spots look darker compared to some of the more orange looking ones you have shown in other posts.
Pam,
Where did you find those cute jars? Love the color.
I am cleaning my shells from my trip and will post them in a few days. I found a really cool coral cluster. It was hotter than hell down there and the shelling was not as exciting as I’m used to but saw tons of dolphins and gorgeous sunsets.
Had no idea that barnacles are crustaceans. Love the barnacle flowers, particularly the white one in the first picture. Congratulations Jim, on finding your junonia, the color is great! I wonder if it was buried in the sand and then recently uncovered by the water?
Hi Pam,
My family and I will be heading to Sanibel in 2 weeks and we are super excited! Hopefully the shelling will improve by then… but just being there will be what we have been looking forward to for awhile now. And… we have booked one of the cruises with you! Can’t wait!
Pam! Love your barnacle flowers!! And luvluvluv the live barnacles! I’ve never seen them alive before. So very kewl!
I have both sides of a jingle shell (!) and on one side, there are little barnacles attached. It’s pretty cute :)
Looking forward to hearing of your organizing!!!
And – KEWL junonia! I know that shelling backhoe magnetized the junonia up on the beach! lol Congrats, Jim!
Love the Barnacles and the video of the live ones…who knew? Crustaceans, huh. The “flowers” are very interesting… That Junonia that you friend found sure is in remarkable shape, esp. the color. It looks brand new! Hopin’ to get to Sanibel over the Christmas holiday…maybe we can meet on the beach!
That is a gorgeous junonia that Jim found. It figures that the non-sheller finds the prize-maybe he’ll go shelling more often. I have mixed feelings about barnacles. When I was about 7 years old, I fell down on a large rock that was covered with barnacles. I was cut from head to toe! I still have a scar on my nose. I have picked up some clusters of purple ones. I hope the shelling picks up. Pat
We were there the night Jim found his prize. I didn’t get to see it but saw pictures and it is a true gem (Jim’s gem) hehe. We found a couple lightening whelks, some olives, an apple murex, a couple little horse conch, a nice sized shark eye, and my husband found the sweetest little alphie cone! We had to work for them as with what Jim found out, in the water is where it’s at!
another super post showing that shelling can have its downsides too,but it wont stop people that love to shell like jim who could’ve gave up but kept going and found the motherload good going jim ,and thanks for another great update.i keep looking at old posts but they are new to me and I love them thanx R.G.STEIN
I found a Junonia at Navarre Beach in June this year. Shelling had been “ok” but when I saw it roll up out of the corner of my eye, I dropped the whelk I had and dove for the Junonia, which I recognized from its coloring. Had my sister, Laurie, seen it at the same time there would have been a fight for it. It was voted the most spectacular shell of our trip and there were 5 of us shelling!
Great barnacle video! Essentially the little crustaceans are cemented in place, lying on their backs, kicking food into their mouths with their legs.
I’ve always thought the little barnacle clusters on scallop shells look like little Easter bonnets! So sweet! I collect them, too!
Pam, do you know how they are able to take on the color of the shell they are attached to? I have one like the middle one on the left in the group picture. Thanks!
I know! Ive noticed the ams thing… the purple calico scallops always have the purple barnacles…hmmmmm
Does anyone know what the large lumps of brown material is that is washing up on blind pass beach?
Hi Sherri, its crazy, right? they are sea squirts… they are tunicates like sea pork. I’m so sorry I’m so far behind in my postings- I haven’t even shown photos from our real amazing Captiva Cruise to Cayo Costa Friday. I’ll show more info on the sea squirts later this week. thanks so much for asking!
Thanks so much Pam. Everyone was speculating that it was oil coming from the oil spill still. Good to hear it is not. Just want to thank you for your great site also. Been here 8 days and learning a lot about shells.
I have been searching and searching. I would like to bring my family to sanibel for some shelling. We have watched your YouTubes over and over and they are so excited. We were thinking of coming the weekend before Thanksgiving. But January would be a bit easier to do. But we want to have a great shelling experience. I know the moon phase and tides have a ton to do with it. But I can’t find a good website that shows me either or both. Can you direct me in the right direction. Or maybe you would know because you know the Island so well. Please advise! Thanks
lindsey, errrrrr…. i think this is a “good website”! On the top of my blog here, you can find a page that is titled “Tides” that links to my tide chart page… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/sanibel-tides/. Also I have a page that shows the moon phase. If you click on that moon icon, it will take you to everything you want to know about the moon phases (probably more than you really want to know). here’s that link…http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/island-info/moon-phase/ Good luck and thanks for hanging out with me on YouTube! :)