Barnacles

Pat Garber begins her chapter on "Barnacles: The Bane of the Seas" (in her book Ocracoke Wild) with this observation by nineteenth century naturalist, Louis Agassiz: "A little shrimp-like animal standing on its head in a limestone house and kicking food into its mouth."

Pat goes on to explain that for a long time barnacles were believed to be mollusks. Now we know that these critters who foul pilings, anchor lines, and the bottoms of all vessels, from canoes to ocean-going tankers, are marine arthropods, relatives of crabs and shrimp.  

According to Popular Science magazine, "the U.S. Naval Academy estimates that biofouling creates enough hull-drag to increase the Navy's petroleum bill by about $250 million every year."

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is about the Unionist North Carolina State Government established at Hatteras in 1861. You can read all about it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092114.htm.