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Mechanisms of Adhesion in Adult Barnacles

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Biological Adhesive Systems

Abstract

Barnacles belong to the phylum Crustacea (following the taxonomy of Newman, 1987), which makes them segmented animals with jointed limbs, an exoskeleton that periodically moults, and a complex lifecycle involving metamorphosis between larval and adult forms. The group of crustaceans to which barnacles belong, the Cirripedia, has a unique larval form — the cyprid. This life history stage is adapted to locate a spot on which to permanently settle, develop, grow, and survive for the rest of its life. Barnacles have a worldwide distribution and various lifestyles, from parasitic species on the gills of decapod crustaceans to free-living groups. The free-living groups are adapted to permanently attach via cement onto other living organisms, rocks or man-made materials, and barnacle “fouling” on marine installations and cargo ships is increasingly of economic concern (Adamson and Brown, 2002). Within the free-living barnacles, a further division is recognized between acorn (Order Sessilia) and stalked (Order Pedunculata) forms. Certain stalked species are termed “pleustonic” due to a lifestyle at the air/water interface (see Bainbridge and Roskell, 1966) and these are the species which will be emphasized in this chapter (Fig.9.1A-C).

(A) Lepas anatifera showing capitulum (cap) and peduncle (p), scale bar 1 cm; (B) pleustonic species L. Anatifera attached to glass and Dosima fascicularis with glue fl oat; (C) D. Fascicularis with fl oat (f), scale bar 1 cm; (D) transverse section of peduncle in L. Anatifera stained using AZAN (Kiernan, 1999) showing position of the cuticle lining of the peduncle (c), circular and longitudinal muscle layers (mu), ovarioles (o), hemocoelic space (h) and glue gland cells (g), scale bar 500 µm; (E) schematic of glue apparatus in L. Anatifera including the position of the ovarioles/glue glands (o/g) in the peduncle and principal canal (pc); (F) schematic of detailed glue glands in L. Anatifera including mature cement gland (mcg), young cement gland (ycg), lumen (lu) of the principal canal, vacuole (vac), collector canal (cc), secondary canal (sc), intracellular canal (ic), large nucleus with numerous nucleoli (n). Schematic in B is reproduced with permission from Ankel (1962) and drawings in E and F are reprinted with permission of Lacombe and Liguori (1969)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology Martin Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, University Road, Galway, Ireland

    Anne Marie Power, Jaimie Jonker & Paul McEvilly

  2. Core Facility Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research Faculty of Life Science, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Waltraud Klepal, Vanessa Zheden & Janek von Byern

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  1. Anne Marie Power
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  2. Waltraud Klepal
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  3. Vanessa Zheden
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  4. Jaimie Jonker
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  5. Paul McEvilly
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  6. Janek von Byern
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Core Facility Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research Faculty of Life Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Janek von Byern

  2. Department of Adhesive Bonding Technology and Surfaces, Adhesives and Polymer Chemistry, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM), Bremen, Germany

    Ingo Grunwald

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Power, A.M., Klepal, W., Zheden, V., Jonker, J., McEvilly, P., von Byern, J. (2010). Mechanisms of Adhesion in Adult Barnacles. In: von Byern, J., Grunwald, I. (eds) Biological Adhesive Systems. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0286-2_9

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