Barnacles

When you think crustaceans, you could probably come up with crabs and lobsters and shrimp without too much prompting. But a creature you might not consider right away is the barnacle. That’s right, those little guys you see attached to the side of ships are actually crustaceans. There are around 1220 species of barnacle knows currently (filling a tank for all of those creatures would be the dream of any water supply company), and of those, the most popular is the acorn barnacle, shown above. Barnacles are all sessile, which means that they are immobile, and attach themselves to other, larger objects with a super-sticky glue. This fast-curing cement that they produce is one of the most effective glues in the natural world, and, in fact, known to man. Having a tensile strength of 5000 pounds per square inch, it’s no wonder people are looking at a way to harvest it and use it commercially.

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