Suspension-feeding
Guides
Coronulidae
Whale Barnacles
Coronulidae is a family of barnacles (Cirripedia) commonly known as whale barnacles, though their host associations extend beyond cetaceans to include sea turtles and crocodilians. Members are obligate epizoic species that attach to mobile marine hosts during their free-swimming larval stage. The family includes the genus Chelonibia, which exhibits exclusively passive feeding behavior—a unique trait among barnacles where the species relies entirely on host-generated water currents rather than facultatively switching between active and passive feeding modes.
Pinnixa chaetopterana
tube pea crab
Pinnixa chaetopterana is a small, soft-bodied pea crab that lives symbiotically within the tubes of polychaete worms, primarily Chaetopterus variopedatus. It is a facultative commensal, occasionally free-living or associating with alternative hosts such as Amphitrite ornata. The species exhibits strong host fidelity and can distinguish conspecifics from heterospecifics. It ranges from Massachusetts to Uruguay along the western Atlantic, including Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.
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thievery-unknownaggression-contextintraspecific-aggressioninterspecific-aggressionlimb-autotomyregeneration-unknownwound-healingstress-responsehandling-responselaboratory-maintenancecollection-methodpreservation-effectmuseum-specimen-qualitytype-specimen-locationoriginal-description-qualitysubsequent-redescriptionstaxonomic-stabilitynomenclatural-actspriority-ruleshomonymy-checksynonymy-list-completenessdistribution-record-verificationoccurrence-data-qualityrange-boundary-uncertaintydepth-record-accuracyhabitat-description-specificityhost-record-verificationassociation-record-qualitysymbiosis-documentation-standardnatural-history-completenessresearch-priority-areasconservation-status-unknownIUCN-evaluation-neededpopulation-trend-unknownthreat-assessmenthabitat-vulnerabilityclimate-sensitivityrange-shift-potentialphenology-changehost-phenology-dependencyphenological-mismatch-riskevolutionary-history-unknownphylogenetic-positionsister-species-unknownspecies-group-membershipgenetic-differentiationcryptic-diversity-potentialbarcode-library-coveragegenome-resourcestranscriptome-unknownproteome-unknownmetabolome-unknowndevelopmental-genetics-unknownsymbiosis-genetics-unknownhost-recognition-gene-unknownimmune-response-unknownparasite-resistance-unknowncoevolution-historyphylogeography-unknownpopulation-structure-unknowngene-flow-unknowndispersal-limitationisolation-by-distancelocal-adaptation-unknownphenotypic-plasticitymorphological-variationenvironmental-gradient-responsephenotypic-clinegenotype-environment-interactionevolutionary-potentialadaptive-capacityresilience-unknownextinction-risk-assessment-needed