Craca (Balanus tintinnabulum)
The barnacle Balanus tintinnabulum, common on rocky shores of Madeira and the Selvagens and eaten as a prized shellfish.
A cirripede crustacean of the family Balanidae, relatively common on the coastal rocks of the islands of Madeira and the Savage Islands (Selvagens). It is found in certain spots and lives at the low-tide line, preferring places exposed to the heavy pounding of the waves. Although it very rarely appears in the market, it is edible and is rightly prized as a tasty shellfish. To gather it, people use a striking tool called a craqueira (iron tool for prising barnacles off rocks), since the shell that covers it is firmly attached to the rock on which it lives.
It is one of the 13 cirripedes recorded by C. Darwin as Madeiran in his monograph on this order of crustaceans.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Savage Islands
Funchal · Selvagens. Where the barnacle occurs.
A small uninhabited island group, politically part of the Madeira archipelago. The Elucidário covers its geography, geology, fauna, ownership history and legends of hidden treasure, including Shackleton's treasure plans, and notes the annual hunting of shearwaters and rabbits. It is the only remaining home of the limpet Patella vulgata and was studied by naturalists such as Lowe and Garreta.
People
People mentioned · 01-
English naturalist whose monograph on barnacles listed 13 Madeiran species, including this one.