There are 2 types of goose barnacles¹ that can be found on our coasts. One type is attached to floating logs and other debris, and is cast up on west-coast shores by the tide; the other is fixed by a stalk to rocks on the shore. The shore-bound variety of goose barnacle Pollicipes polymerus is quite tasty to the palate. The peduncle contains muscles that are prized by Spanish² and Portuguese gourmands for las tapas.  The animal is steamed or boiled, and then the flexible sheath is stripped off and the muscle bands eaten.  Although stands of goose barnacles such as featured in the accompanying photograph on Frank Island, British Columbia have sustained modest local harvesting (e.g., from First Nations Peoples) for centuries, commercial "clear-cut" harvesting³ has existed in the province only since the 1970s. Catches in British Columbia have declined substantially from peak landings of about 40 metric tonnes in the early 1990s, owing to a decrease in accessible natural stocks and to declining las tapas markets in Spain.

NOTE¹  the origin of the word “barnacle” is obscure, but may derive from O.F. bernaque meaning “goose”.  It may be that the English name was first applied to a bird, the barnacle goose, because it was believed that these birds grew from certain “muskles” (what we now know as goose barnacles) growing on trees cast up on the shore by ocean waves.  The GOOSE-BARNACLE LEGEND is presented elsewhere in this learn-about section.  Barnacles were only recognised to be crustaceans sometime in the mid-1800’s when the distinct arthropodan features of their larvae were noted

NOTE²  local stocks in Spain have long since been seriously depleted and are now managed under strict conservation measures.  Spanish markets have thus been keen to augment their local supplies with new offshore sources

NOTE³  the following account of harvesting on Frank Island, British Columbia by Josie Osborne is of interest: "I haven't seen any 'clear-cuts' on Frank Island in the last few years, so I would think the beds have recovered. I worked with the goose barnacle harvesters for about 6yr - a very interesting crew - and learned lots from them. The experienced harvesters only took small fist-sized clumps (selective harvesting), recognising that if they removed larger patches the waves would likely begin working the edges of the clumps then strip them off like peeling an orange. But the less experienced harvesters sometimes made mistakes. There's been no harvesting since about 2006. Sometimes the occasional log smashes into the clumps and the results look exactly like the effects of inexperienced harvesters. We did some harvest-impact studies with the Department of Fisheries & Oceans for about 4yr, but the data, as far as I know, haven't been worked up yet." Josie Osborne, pers. comm. Raincoast Education Society, Tofino, British Columbia

Barnacles, along with shrimps, isopods, crabs, and amphipods are classified in the Subphylum Crustacea in the Phylum Arthropoda:

Phylum Arthropoda (lit. “jointed legs” G.)

Subphylum Crustacea (lit. “crust or rind characterised by” L.), referring to the hard calcified exoskeleton

Class Maxillopoda (lit. “jaw feet” G.), including barnacles

Infraclass Cirripedia (lit. “curl of hair/feet” L.), referring to the frilly appearance of the feeding appendages of a barnacle, derived from locomotory appendages of the larva; includes acorn and goose barnacles, and kin