My Cherished Salacious Barnacle Factoid

Whenever I’m in Puerto Penasco (a.k.a Rocky Point), Mexico, I find an excuse to mention this factoid that I learned more than 20 years ago: Acorn barnacles…have evolved the longest penis relative to their body size of any animal.

And now I’ve seen video (courtesy of Boing Boing):

Mating barnacles from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

I learned this from marine biologist Dr. Philip Pepe, who drew a diagram on a chalkboard at CEDO, where I was taking a week-long class on intercoastal ecosystems.

Recollection of non-penis-related education

I feel compelled to demonstrate that I also recall non-penis related information that I learned at the time:

• The extreme tides in the Sea of Cortez are caused by Seiche
• Aplidium Solidum kind of looks like a brain.