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Capitulum mitella
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<h2 id="description">Description</h2> <p><i>Capitulum mitella</i> has a short leathery stalk or <a href="/facts/Peduncle_(anatomy)/MS5Bf4Gd">peduncle</a> supporting an upper region or capitulum, the whole being up to 5 cm (2 in) long. The peduncle is muscular and contractile and its surface is covered with fine scales. The capitulum is protected by eight large, sheathing scales and a ring of about twenty tiny scales surround the joint of capitulum and peduncle. Inside these scales is a cavity containing the head and thorax of the animal and its appendages.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="distribution-and-habitat">Distribution and habitat</h2> <p><i>Capitulum mitella</i> occurs in the <a href="/facts/South_China_Sea/WRFXLgIg">South China Sea</a> and the <a href="/facts/East_China_Sea/LpC6wxIu">East China Sea</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> It is found attached to rocks in the lower part of the <a href="/facts/Intertidal_zone/grnBDVQ3">intertidal zone</a> in areas with strong currents. It typically occurs crowded with others in cracks and grooves on otherwise smooth rocky surfaces. The barnacle <i><a href="/facts/Tetraclita_squamosa/Mle6nFJr">Tetraclita squamosa</a></i> often occurs in the same locations and grows alongside it, and the primitive barnacle <i>Ibla cumingi</i> may grow in between or on the larger capitulum plates.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="biology">Biology</h2> <p>When under water, <i>Capitulum mitella</i> extends its five hind pairs of <a href="/facts/Arthropod_leg/Lhs5yVca">thoracic legs</a> and spreads them out in the current like a net. It uses the front pair of legs to manipulate the objects it catches and move them into its mouth. Its diet mainly consists of <a href="/facts/Zooplankton/9omoIP2d">zooplankton</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p><i>Capitulum mitella</i> is a simultaneous <a href="/facts/Hermaphrodite/C4aYIk4n">hermaphrodite</a>. Each barnacle is capable of fertilising other nearby individuals by transmitting sperm through a long, fine tube and also of brooding its own eggs in its mantle cavity. When the eggs hatch, the larvae are released into the sea. They have six <a href="/facts/Crustacean_larvae/Rnj4CHHf">naupliar</a> stages during which food reserves are built up and one non-feeding cyprid stage which seeks out a suitable hard surface on which to settle. It then fix itself in place, undergoes <a href="/facts/Metamorphosis/nKDTSjsK">metamorphosis</a> and becomes a sessile juvenile.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p><p>In <a href="/facts/Hong_Kong/4nAf3mqQ">Hong Kong</a> harbour, where this barnacle can be found growing on <a href="/facts/Piling/nKuDq0EN">pilings</a>, it often has a <a href="/facts/Nemertea/D1HKC5NT">nemertean worm</a> <i>(Nemertopsis quadripunctatus)</i> living inside its mantle cavity and feeding on the eggs being brooded there.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The worm can be 8 cm (3 in) long but only 1 mm (0.04 in) in diameter.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="uses">Uses</h2> <p><i>Capitulum mitella</i> is one of about a dozen species of goose barnacle that are gathered commercially and eaten by humans. These barnacles are a luxury food item in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Ren Xianqiu (2006). "Capitulum mitella". Animal Information Management System. Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 2012-12-21.[permanent dead link] <a href="http://data.sp2000.cn/2010_cnnode_e/show_species_details.php?name_code=9d1d7f52-1cec-44de-ba80-2ad4ef1d65ae" target="_blank">http://data.sp2000.cn/2010_cnnode_e/show_species_details.php?name_code=9d1d7f52-1cec-44de-ba80-2ad4ef1d65ae</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Chu Lee; Jeong Min Shim; Chang Hyun Kim (2000). "Larval development of Capitulum mitella (Cirripedia: Pedunculata) reared in the laboratory". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK. 80 (3): 457–464. doi:10.1017/s0025315400002150. S2CID 86504370. <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=20981" target="_blank">http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=20981</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Rainbow, Phil. "Capitulum mitella". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2012-12-21. <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/" target="_blank">http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/evolution/capitulum-mitella/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Suma, Y; Ishizaki, S; Nagashima, Y; Lu, Y; Ushio, H; Shiomi, K. (2007). "Comparative analysis of barnacle tropomyosin: divergence from decapod tropomyosins and role as a potential allergen". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. 147 (2): 230–236. doi:10.1016/j.cbpb.2007.01.004. PMID 17321773. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>