In Human Culture
Barnacles are of economic consequence as they often attach themselves to man-made structures, sometimes to the structure's detriment. Particularly in the case of ships, they are classified as fouling organisms.
Some barnacles are considered edible by humans, and goose barnacles (e.g. Pollicipes pollicipes), in particular, are a delicacy in Spain and Portugal. The resemblance of this barnacle's fleshy stalk to a goose's neck gave rise in ancient times to the notion that geese, or at least certain seagoing species of wild goose, literally grew from the barnacle. Indeed, the word "barnacle" originally referred to a species of goose, the Barnacle goose Branta leucopsis, whose eggs and young were rarely seen by humans because it breeds in the remote Arctic.
The picoroco barnacle is used in Chilean cuisine and is one of the ingredients in curanto.
Read more about this topic: Barnacle
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or culture:
“Life is not a matter of place, things or comfort; rather, it concerns the basic human rights of family, country, justice and human dignity.”
—Imelda Marcos (b. 1929)
“As the end of the century approaches, all our culture is like the culture of flies at the beginning of winter. Having lost their agility, dreamy and demented, they turn slowly about the window in the first icy mists of morning. They give themselves a last wash and brush-up, their ocellated eyes roll, and they fall down the curtains.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)