Between the Tides in Washington and Oregon by Ryan P. Kelly

Author:Ryan P. Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Washington Press

Gooseneck Barnacles

The strange-looking, stalked creatures on coasts that have lots of wave action are a species of gooseneck barnacle (Pollicipes polymerus). If you squint a bit, they bear a passing resemblance to the neck and head of a goose—or at least enough of a resemblance that it led to centuries of European mythology surrounding them. The story, it seems, went like this: not understanding the migratory patterns of geese in northern Europe, people were at a loss to explain how they hadn’t ever seen baby geese, yet the birds showed up each year, fully grown. The gooseneck barnacle was thought to be the fruit of a kind of barnacle tree and, when mature, would (somehow) turn into a grown bird. And cleverly, some Catholic clergy saw this as a way to allow eating meat on days when doing so was otherwise forbidden: according to legend, the goose hadn’t been born in the usual way, so it didn’t count as meat.

These gooseneck barnacles (Pollicipes polymerus) grow in dense clumps in areas exposed to waves and surge. They grow slowly and can live for two decades.

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