Valentine’s Epilogue

Feb 15, 2016 • 3:13 AM UTC

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Matthew Rossi

I'm a novelist, essayist, and a writing consultant. I work in the writing centers at Columbia and Baruch University and explore research into the overlap of maker cultures and writing. My work with the Foldscope tends to focus on finding wild creatures in urban spaces and looking at how human works are shaped by the movements of the biosphere.

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A brief update on the Atlantic/Pacific post. I noticed this afternoon that the barnacles all seemed especially active. One pair in particular seemed to be vigorously churning the water around them, one spitting out more than it seemed to consume.
I assumed what I was watching was barnacle’s mating, that each was pouring gametes into the water. How wrong I was. What I found under the microscope was not fertilizing eggs, but this little one swimming around with a few of its siblings.

I rescued at least two dozen from the main tank (and have set them in the more permanent gelato jar tank); they’re attracted to strong light sources, which makes them easy to catch.
I’ll be posting more of them in coming days, no doubt. It raises questions about whether barnacles typically engage in live births or whether these represent an attempted barnacle cannibalism, and of course, how to care for them long enough to see the fabled cyprid stage of their lives.
For now, this little newborn is swimming among its peers, and I have a lot more viewing to do before I send them back to the ocean.