Barnacle-covered chair sparks mystery after washing ashore off Texas coast
Park rangers said they are still determining how the chair got into the ocean in the first place. However, what they do know is that it’s been floating long enough for gooseneck barnacles to attach and grow.
Researchers studying sea life find 'creepy dolls' washed ashore on Texas beach
Researchers who study sea life find "creepy dolls" covered in barnacles, missing limbs and some stained green due to algae.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A mystery is swirling along a Texas shoreline after a barnacle-covered chair washed ashore.
Maybe it's Poseidon’s throne or a captain’s chair on a pirate ship, Padre Island National Seashore joked after the furniture was found on the narrow barrier island. The protected 66-mile wild coastline along the Gulf of Mexico is also home to one of the last intact coastal prairie habitats in the U.S.
Park rangers said they are still determining how the chair got into the ocean in the first place. However, what they do know is that it’s been floating long enough for gooseneck barnacles to attach and grow.
"Gooseneck barnacles are interesting critters," the national park said in a social media post with a photo of the water-logged chair.
The filter-feeding crustaceans attach to hard surfaces, headfirst, the NPA said, with cement so strong it’s been studied by scientists since the time of Charles Darwin.
SEE THE 'ALIEN LOG' COVERED IN UNUSUAL SEA CREATURES THAT'S CAPTURING ATTENTION IN NEW ZEALAND
The Padre Island National Seashore said they are still determining how a chair got into the ocean in the first place. However, what they do know is that it’s been floating long enough for gooseneck barnacles to attach and grow.
(Sarah Laughlin / NPS)
If you are wondering how they eat if their head is glued down, park officials said the answer is one they will definitely stand by.
"They eat using their feet," they said. "Gooseneck barnacles have modified feet called cirri and use these feathery feeding appendages to search water for plankton and other small food particles."
Gooseneck barnacles won’t last long out of the water but are a beneficial food source for shorebirds and ghost crabs.
"Maybe not a thrilling end for the denizens of Poseidon’s throne," the NPS said. "But a useful end, none the less!"