Lead
In the vast expanses of the ocean, whales are huge wanderers, and they are inhabited by many marine creatures, among which there is a marine arthropod called barnacles, which is the most common.
However, the growth of barnacles is extremely painful for whales, and every time they encounter this situation, they often seek artificial help.
Helping whales have also been reached, however, the process of barnacle development has rendered artificial help meaningless.
Why do barnacles choose whales as hosts?
And how do they know that humans can help them?
The growth of barnacles.
Barnacles, also known as "reptiles", refer to a group of arthropods in a broad sense, and in a narrow sense, to refer to a more common creature attached to the ocean.
This creature is morphologically similar to a seashell, but its epidermis and inner shell are actually made up of two layers of exoskeleton.
Barnacles, as a marine animal, are both carnivores and plantivores.
Some barnacles forage by translucent tentacles that feed in their mouths and break it down with the help of specialized throats.
Other barnacles grasp food through an organ called a "mouth and foot" and use their tentacles to digest it.
The life cycle of barnacles is divided into three stages: egg, larva, and adult.
The appearance of the adult is very different from the larvae, mainly because the larvae are free-lived, while the adults are stationary and therefore need to adapt to different environments.
Barnacle larvae hatch into free-living larvae about one millimeter in diameter and have six pairs of legs on their bodies, however they only have one to two weeks of lifespan after hatching.
After hatching, the larvae look for a suitable surface to hold them in, and once they have found a suitable surface for themselves, they secrete clear colloidal glands, which they subsequently burrow into the surface to fix themselves.
How barnacles reproduce.
Barnacles reproduce in a unique way, they can reproduce by secreting sperm and eggs from their gonads.
During mating, male barnacles will use shorter tentacles to transport sperm to female barnacles for the purpose of mating.
After successful mating, barnacles will expel the unfertilized eggs from the body, and the fertilized eggs will develop into larvae inside.
Barnacle larvae will look for suitable attachments after hatching, mainly by chemical signals.
When the larvae find a surface that suits them, they will perform the act of piercing, so that they can fix themselves and start living.
It is important to note that barnacles are very capable of reproduction.
A pair of adult barnacles can ovulate up to 100,000 eggs a day, and these larvae can quickly find attachments and insert them after hatching, forming new colonies.
In their natural environment, barnacles are very fertile and can quickly spread to suitable environments.
However, due to the influence of human activities, the living environment of barnacles has been greatly threatened, so the protection and rational use of barnacles are particularly important.
Barnacles choose whales as hosts.
Barnacles choose whales as their hosts for several reasons.
First of all, barnacles are one of the marine arthropods, and whales, as large marine mammals, live in the ocean, providing a suitable habitat for barnacles.
Whales have a number of uneven surfaces on their bodies that are suitable for barnacles to attach to, which can provide a fixed base for barnacles, while whales have thicker skin that provides adequate protection for barnacles.
Secondly, whales, as large marine animals, move slowly and do not swim fast, which provides a stable environment for barnacles to survive.
Barnacles cannot move after attaching, so they need to choose a stable host to ensure their survival.
Whales swim slower and can provide a relatively stable environment for barnacles to avoid being washed away.
In addition, whales are huge in size and release a lot of heat, which also provides a warm habitat for barnacles.
Barnacles adapt to temperature changes in the marine environment, while whales have relatively high temperatures and can provide a suitable temperature environment for barnacles.
Finally, whales, as the ocean's apex predators, occupy a higher position in the ecosystem.
Barnacles, as bottom consumers, can obtain abundant nutrients from whale excrement and carcasses to promote their own growth.
This symbiotic relationship is very important for barnacles to help them survive and reproduce better.
Whales ask humans for help.
Once barnacles choose a whale as a host, they will begin to grow on the whale's body.
This process is very painful as barnacles immobilize themselves by piercing into the whale's skin, which causes the whale to feel severe pain.
Once the barnacles are successfully pierced, it means that they are fixed to the whale's body and can no longer move.
At the same time, these barnacles also began their own reproduction process.
Over time, the number of barnacles will increase and even form an "island" of barnacles on the whale's body.
The presence of these barnacles not only causes pain in the whale, but also affects the whale's swimming speed and health.
However, whales, when plagued by barnacles, also seem to know that humans are able to help them.
Sometimes, when people are at the beach or diving, they will find whales swimming up to them, bumping or slapping the water with their bodies, as if asking for help from humans.
People gradually realized that the whales seemed to want them to clean up the barnacles for themselves.
People reached out to these whales who asked for help, and began to use brushes, blades and other tools to clean barnacles from the whales.
During the cleaning process, it was found that the barnacles were very firmly attached and often required a lot of force to uproot them.
And after pulling up the barnacles, the whale will make a cheerful sound, as if thanking the humans for their help.
However, this method of manual cleaning is only temporary, as barnacles are very fertile and will soon reattach themselves to the whales.
When whales are bothered by barnacles, they will also have some behaviors to try to get rid of the trouble.
Sometimes, whales will use the weight of their bodies to slam their bodies into the shallows in an attempt to shake the barnacles off.
Sometimes, they will also spray water to wash the barnacles away, but none of these methods have much effect.
Over time, people gradually realized that manual removal of barnacles could no longer solve the problem.
As a result, people began to look for some chemical agents that could effectively fight barnacles.
However, these agents are not widely used because they have limited effectiveness and may have toxic side effects on whales.
The problem with barnacles.
In addition to causing a nuisance to whales, barnacles have become "enemies" of marine installations and ships.
Barnacles have a very strong adhesion, and once they are attached to the hull, they can greatly affect the ship's sailing performance, increase drag, and consume more fuel.
Therefore, in order to maintain the ship's sailing performance, people also regularly clean the barnacles on the hull.
Barnacles are also attached to marine installations, such as marine wind turbines and marine aquaculture facilities.
The presence of barnacles not only affects the proper functioning of the facility, but can also lead to damage to the facility.
As a result, people also take steps to clean barnacles from these facilities on a regular basis.
However, there is no effective permanent solution to barnacle attachment, which has become a major problem.
How to deal with the problem of barnacles is still a difficult problem to be solved.
epilogue
In conclusion, barnacles choose whales as hosts because of factors such as the whale's size and swimming speed.
However, the attachment of barnacles can cause distress to whales and even affect their survival and health.
Humans have tried to help whales clean barnacles from their bodies, but the results have been limited, and there is no permanent solution.
As a living organism, the existence of barnacles also has ecological significance, so we need to study the biological characteristics and ecological role of barnacles more deeply to find more effective solutions. At the same time, we should also enhance environmental awareness, protect the marine ecological environment, and create a better living environment for whales and other marine life.
In the future, we hope that advances in science and technology will bring us better solutions to help these great marine creatures get rid of barnacles.