One group of stalked barnacles have adapted to a rafting lifestyle, where they are drifting around close to the water's surface. They will colonize every floating object, such as driftwood, and like some non-stalked barnacles, also attach themselves to marine animals. The species most specialized for this lifestyle is Dosima fascicularis, which secretes a gas-filled cement that makes it float at the surface. [28] Charles Darwin took up this challenge in 1846, and developed his initial interest into a major study published as a series of monographs in 1851 and 1854. [33] Darwin undertook this study, at the suggestion of his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, to thoroughly understand at least one species before making the generalisations needed for his theory of evolution by natural selection. [34] [35] Upon the conclusion of his research, Darwin declared "I hate a barnacle as no man ever did before." [36] [35] To develop into adults, barnacles must fix onto a hard surface, such as a whale or a ship’s hull (Image: Jaime Franch Wildlife Photo / Alamy)

A fertilised egg hatches into a nauplius: a one-eyed larva comprising a head and a telson, without a thorax or abdomen. This undergoes six moults, passing through five instars, before transforming into the cyprid stage. Nauplii are typically initially brooded by the parent, and released after the first moult as larvae that swim freely using setae. [14] [15] Cyprid [ edit ] Studios Hergé, Moulinsart. "Tintin in Brussels". Official route drawn by Moulinsart and Studios Hergé. Moulinsart and Studios Hergé . Retrieved 3 March 2014.The sessile lifestyle of barnacles makes sexual reproduction difficult, as the organisms cannot leave their shells to mate. To facilitate genetic transfer between isolated individuals, barnacles have extraordinarily long penises⁠. Barnacles probably have the largest penis to body size ratio of the animal kingdom, [19] up to eight times their body length. [21] Michael Farr discovered Tintin at the age of four. Sixty-odd years later, after a career spent – like his boyhood hero – as a foreign reporter, he is a top Tintinologist, speaking at Tintin conferences around the globe, where aficionados gather for talks on such topics as Gender (Re)presentation in The Adventures of Tintin, or Tintin and the European Identity. Peeters, Benoît (2012) [2002]. Hergé: Son of Tintin. Tina A. Kover (translator). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-0454-7. Barnacles have no gills. Instead, they absorb oxygen through their legs or cirri which wave around in the water.

Billions of blue blistering boiled and barbecued barnacles [The Seven Crystal Balls, p14, frame 10]! Stanley, Steven M. (8 April 2016). "Predation defeats competition on the seafloor". Paleobiology. 34 (1): 1–21. doi: 10.1666/07026.1. S2CID 83713101. The name Cirripedia comes from the Latin words cirritus "curly" from cirrus "curl" [37] and pedis from pes "foot," [38] the two words together mean "curl-footed." [39] [ further explanation needed] The study of barnacles is called cirripedology.

Originally compiled by Jesper Jühne, and expanded by Irene Mar. Contributions from Gustav Gullberg, Olivia Bloch, Matthew Vernon, Ishaan, Som, Neal Austin Bhandarkar, Bryan Woolfolk, Rinya Singh, Ed Shoemaker, Captain Chester (and brother), Georgia, cooldude123, zaveri_tintin, Joe Gooden, Sheldon Serrao, Christopher Damon, X, rishabh, Nicholas Walker, Michael Grover, Manoj Balraj, Sunday (sundaymarch1056), Vincent Thieu, Ivan Hanigan, Lukas (Zonater) Rizvi, David Arnson, Robert L Stewart, Nathan Everett, Tolkuna Salieva, Claudia Pramiasti, and Gopal Balasubramanian. Hyunwoo Yuk; etal. (2021). "Rapid and coagulation-independent haemostatic sealing by a paste inspired by barnacle glue". Nature Biomedical Engineering. 5 (10): 1131–1142. doi: 10.1038/s41551-021-00769-y. PMC 9254891. PMID 34373600. Cook, William (13 November 2015). "Brussels: adventures with Tintin in the Belgian capital". The Evening Standard . Retrieved 3 March 2014.