Barnacles are as strange looking as their name, with a long noodle-like stem emerging from smooth white plates. The crustacean, also known as barnacles, is also extremely expensive – in Europe where it is enjoyed as a delicacy, a kilo can cost hundreds of dollars.
And this week, a group appeared in Horseshoe Bay, south of Adelaide.
“[The pylon] It was covered in what looked like udon noodles with cockles on the end,” said Martin Smee, of the Port Elliot surf lifesaving club. ABC Radiodifusión Adelaide.
“I looked closer and there were barnacles, thousands of barnacles.”
A few days later, more were seen on Bondi Beach, Sydney.
But while barnacles look undeniably strange, they are a regular part of the natural marine environment, according to a Waverley council spokesperson. “They often come ashore depending on the winds and currents,” they said.
A crustacean expert at the South Australian Museum, Dr Rachael King, said it was not surprising to see barnacles drifting to shore.
Occasionally, he said, they attach themselves to objects floating in the water, such as submerged lines, moorings and buoys.
“These live on things floating in the ocean, and things wash ashore all the time,” King said. “It's really a cool experience to see things you don't normally see.
“They are in the open sea and you can't see them as much from where we are on the coast. So it’s really nice to be able to see them come in like that.”
“Unfortunately, these animals won't survive because, you know, they're supposed to be out there, floating on top of the rubble, living their best lives.”
King said barnacles float and create habitat for other animals in the open ocean, but they can also be a vector for invasive species.
“They get attached to something and stay there their whole life,” he said. “They are more closely related to crabs and shrimp than to cockles or pips.”
King suspects that the reason the South Australian ones were more translucent was because they were cooler, while the Bondi ones looked like they had been on the coast longer.
“When they have been exposed [to the sun]They get darker,” he said.
The edible meat looks like a dragon's claw and, when boiled and cooked, has been described as tasting like a cross between lobster and clam.
Gooseneck barnacles cling to rocks where there is a strong crashing wave. “Growing in cold water along tide-cracked rocks, harvesting barnacles is a difficult and dangerous feat,” writes the Brown Trading Company, a US seafood supplier.
At low tide, when the rocks have been washed away by the waves, some barnacles can be plucked from the rocks by hand. Others, however, “require a diver armed with a crowbar,” explains Brown Buying and selling Firm.
They recommend steaming or blanching the barnacles to reduce the salty taste and then removing the rough skin from the shell. The meat inside can be removed and eaten.
Although often added to soups, chowders and pastas, the meat is also served alone with a variety of dressings – garlic and butter, chilli and lemon or even sherry cream sauce and wild greens.
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