Page 14 - Barnacles

When the water goes out to sea the stony, volcano-shaped barnacles stop sweeping the water for plankton soup. At low tide the barnacles show no movement or sign of life at all. The six hard, crusty shell plates close up tight in the bright sunlight. The barnacle’s shell makes a moist house and keeps the coolness in. The shrimp-like barnacle sits inside its shell house. It sits upside-down in its cool shell house with its head cemented to the bottom and the long feathery legs curled up tight. The barnacle waits for the rising tide to bring its plankton soup

Page 15

Whole herds of dull gray snails, the periwinkles, creep slowly over the rocks. They live among the barnacles and stay as far away from the sea as possible. Periwinkles use their strong, flat muscular foot to move. First one part of the foot moves forward. Then the other part of the foot is pulled along. This is how the periwinkle pushes and pulls and wiggles and waddles along. A periwinkle has a pair of eyes and two long feelers. It also has a mouth and a long ribbon-like tongue that feels like sandpaper. At high tide periwinkles scrape the rocks to feed on the thin carpet of tiny tiny green plants that cover the rocks.