News South Africa

Oh buoy, here come the floating barnacles

Captain Haddock the irascible seafaring character in Tintin renowned for his expressive billions of blue blistering barnacles and that's probably what marine biologist Charles Griffiths may have said when he saw thousands of buoy barnacles drifting off the Western Cape coastline.

Times Live says that buoy barnacles look like ordinary barnacles but have the ability to secrete their own gas-filled flotation devices and do not need to attach themselves to flotsam to get around.

Now thousands of these barnacles are visible in Hout Bay, Muizenberg, Hermanus, False Bay and Camps Bay. Griffiths says it is a "once-in-a-lifetime event" and encouraged people to keep a lookout for the creatures.

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