Once a month we will be sharing a marine species reported via the Fair Isle Marine WhatsApp group. This group is a space for community members and visitors to the isle to share any interesting marine finds. These reports also contribute to marine species records for Fair Isle to help monitor changes in biodiversity.
This month we have what we believe to be Lepas pectinata, commonly known as the small goose barnacle, which was found at North Haven. L. pectinata is a relatively rare species to find washed up on Fair Isle’s shores, with the common goose barnacle, Lepas anatifera, being found far more frequently.
Alongside the L. pectinata on this piece of egg wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) are what appear to be two empty buoy barnacles (Dosima fascicularis) and unidentified “zigzag” hydroids, both of which are typical of long-range drift. This suggests that, to have been colonised by this suite of pelagic fauna, the egg wrack must have drifted a considerable distance from its point of origin—potentially from as far away as Canada.
It is amazing to think that this single piece of algae may have travelled all the way across the Atlantic Ocean before arriving on our shores from another continent.
David Parnaby
Thanks to Martin Gray from Orkney for the help with identifying these species