Hell seafood, poor man’s lobster, can this thing actually be eaten?

The following article is from Bringing Science Home, written by Wanwu

Image source: pixabay

Weird little things

As we all know, these densely packed little things growing on shells are barnacles, which belong to the crustaceans in the phylum Arthropoda and are distant relatives of shrimps and crabs.

Most barnacles live in shallow waters such as intertidal zones . When they are submerged in sea water, the small cover on the top will open to facilitate prey; when the tide recedes, the small cover will close.

The larvae of barnacles can move on their own in the water, and once they find a suitable place to live, they will stay there, such as rocks or the bottom of a ship. They are also often seen on whales and turtles.

When the barnacle finds a suitable "landing" place, it will secrete a liquid that can solidify quickly through the glands and stick itself to the surface of other objects. This is one of the strongest known natural glues , with a tensile strength of about 350 kilograms per square centimeter, far exceeding 502 glue (the tensile strength is usually 50-100 kilograms per square centimeter).

You can refer to the purple part around it.

Image source: SpongeBob SquarePants-giphy

Barnacles use 4 to 6 scales to form a "house", which then gradually expands outwards, building up its calcium fortress layer by layer. They live in the house upside down, stretching their long legs upwards, with many small forks on their legs. The hairs on the small forks (referred to as leg hairs) are used to catch plankton.

The forked and curled legs of barnacles are like vines. They belong to the Arthropoda, Crustacea, Sheath, and Cirripedia. Sometimes people also use "barnacle" as a general name for Cirripedia.

Image credit: Charles Darwin - Darwin Oline

There are about 1,000 species of barnacles known, and each has its own preferred location: turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae) cling to turtles, manatees, and crabs, while whale barnacles (Coronulidae) cling to baleen whales , and beneath these there are a myriad of other species.

Various types of barnacles

Image source: Charles Darwin - wiki

Although barnacles look uncomfortable, most barnacles do not cause harm to other animals. They have a parasitic symbiotic relationship.

An adult humpback whale can be parasitized by about 450 kilograms of barnacles . Although it sounds tiring, for a humpback whale that can weigh 25 to 30 tons, the weight of the barnacles is equivalent to a person wearing summer clothes.

Some negative effects are that some whale barnacles embed themselves into the whale's skin to prevent it from falling off during the whale's swimming. If they are too deep, they can cause infection in the whale. The horn barnacle (Tubicinella major) growing on right whales is an example.

If barnacles grow on important parts of an animal, such as the eyes of a whale, they can be very dangerous to the host.

Barnacles on mussels may make it difficult for them to fully open their shells

Image source: geograph.org.uk

Killer whales and dolphins are so fast that they have successfully gotten rid of many barnacle larvae. Their bodies still look smooth, with only a few Xenobalanus globicipitis growing on them. These barnacles have discarded their thick calcareous shells to adapt to the turbulent water flow, leaving only six plates at the base.

There are barnacles growing on the dolphin's tail. Although there are not many, it is still uncomfortable to look at.

Image source: California Academy of Sciences

Ugly things on the table

Although barnacles look ugly, they taste sweet and are nutritious. They are rich in iodine, calcium, various proteins and vitamins, and are a specialty delicacy in coastal areas.

In Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places, some fishermen collect barnacles from coastal reefs to eat. People who collect barnacles in Ningbo are called "Dachuren" (the local pronunciation is similar to "chu" and "cricket", etc.). With their rich experience, they skillfully knock on the connection between the bottom of the barnacle and the reef, and the solid shell is knocked off, so that the barnacle meat can be directly scooped up.

There are not many barnacles that are edible, and the acorn barnacle is one of them.

Image source: Flickr

Barnacles are difficult to keep fresh. Even if they are placed in the refrigerator, their taste and fragrance will be greatly reduced after two days. Therefore, gourmets will recommend that you eat barnacles fresh, and directly stew the freshly collected barnacles in a pot. Or you can break up the eggs, add the washed barnacles, and then pour a little rice wine to steam them together, and you will make a delicious barnacle steamed egg.

In order to preserve barnacles for a longer time, people invented "drunk touch". They can either use fresh raw barnacles directly with rice wine to marinate, or blanch the barnacles and then make them drunk.

After the high tide is a good time to dig barnacles . The barnacles that usually live in the intertidal zone are exposed, layered one on top of the other, and it is easiest to knock out a big, plump barnacle. The "upper barnacles" that grow on other barnacles are more preferred because they have no sandy smell and are sweeter.

Barnacles are delicious after just a simple blanching

Image source: New Taipei City Fisheries and Fisheries Management Office

When encountering a large number of barnacles, the "touch people" will scoop up a large pile with a shovel and go back to deal with it. These barnacles with shells are called "touch cattails" and are just as delicious after being blanched in water.

Some fishermen also choose to put these large barnacles with shells directly on the grill. During the grilling process, the barnacles will occasionally spray water out and discharge the juice in their bodies, which adds another flavor.

Although they look a lot like shellfish, barnacles taste more like lobsters, so in Taiwan, Fujian and other places, some people jokingly call them "poor man's lobsters."

The texture of barnacle meat is similar to lobster

Image source: New Taipei City Fisheries and Fisheries Management Office

Across the Eurasian continent, barnacles were also considered a delicacy by the Spanish and Portuguese . However, the appearance of this delicacy on the other side of the continent is different from the barnacles that grow on whales and turtles.

This food is called "Gooseneck Barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes)", although the name also has "barnacle", but it is not a creature under the order Balanomorpha, but belongs to a not-so-distant relative Scalpelliformes. The biggest difference is that it does not suck directly on the reef, and has a stalk, which is the characteristic of the gooseneck barnacle, so it is also called "stalked barnacle".

Gooseneck barnacles (left) look a bit like another seafood we have - turtle feet (right). This little thing has many names, such as Buddha's hand shell, dog claw snail... It and gooseneck barnacles are both in the order Myoga, which refers to the Myoga family (both have handles)

Image credit: Hans Hillewaert-wiki/Peabody Museum of Natural History-wiki

Because the stalk and white head of the gooseneck barnacle are very similar to those of the white-cheeked geese that winter in Ireland and Scotland, people in the Middle Ages once believed that the gooseneck barnacle hatched this bird. The English name of the white-cheeked goose is Barnacle Goose.

Barnacle geese (left) and a painting showing them hatching from a giant barnacle tree (right). It is unclear which came first, the barnacles or the geese.

Image source: wiki/Gerade, 1597-wiki

Gooseneck barnacles are most famous in Galicia, Spain, where ballads tell of "barnacle hunters" who risk their lives to deliver the delicacy to pilgrims' plates, but the prices are outrageous.

In order to find high-quality barnacles, "barnacle hunters" sometimes need to dive underwater and sometimes climb up seaside cliffs. It is said that the best gooseneck barnacles grow in the reef-filled waters of the "Coast of Death" in northwestern Spain. The rough waves here all year round make the collection work more difficult, so gooseneck barnacles are called "seafood from hell."

People on the other side of the continent also believe that high-end ingredients only require simple cooking methods. Boiled gooseneck barnacles are a common way to eat them. Barnacle lovers say they can taste the "taste of the sea" from them.

Haven't tried it, but was shocked.

References:

[1]https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%97%A4%E5%A3%BA

[2]https://scienceline.org/2010/03/how-do-barnacles-attach-to-whales/

[3]https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/barnacles.html

[4]https://huaren.us/showtopic.html?topicid=2267134

[5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_barnacle

[6] Yu Yan. Barnacles: a delicacy on the reef. Ningbo Daily, March 18, 2016

[7]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkjfM04JwCY

[8]https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/oct/08/wild-goose-barnacle-chase

Reprinted from: Bringing Science Home

Written by: Ziv