How do barnacles move?

madog

madog

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How do they get where they are in the first place if they can't move, and if they could why not move to better spots. Just so many unanswered questions need answering. Please help me before I explode and then eat the g man.
 
I assume they grow there, like regular barnacles. Never thought about it because it seemed pretty obvious.
 
I imagine they use those feet to climb, then once they are attached they never come off.
 
I would imagine that they start off as spores and grow if they find a suitable location (somewhere damp)
 
smwScott said:
I assume they grow there, like regular barnacles. Never thought about it because it seemed pretty obvious.
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Spores fly through the air and land on flat elevated surfaces and grow there.
 
i belive they have some sort of muscle that they use to suck themselvs to the roof like some sea shels have. but i might be talking in blind here:p
 
I'm going to agree with the spore theory, but my question is, why do they only grow on ceilings? Barnacles could certainely find better spots if they grew on walls as well, and still be able to catch prey.
 
spiker5 said:
I'm going to agree with the spore theory, but my question is, why do they only grow on ceilings? Barnacles could certainely find better spots if they grew on walls as well, and still be able to catch prey.
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If something heavy cought the tongue it might rip the side of the barnacle open when it tried to pull it up!
 
spiker5 said:
I'm going to agree with the spore theory, but my question is, why do they only grow on ceilings? Barnacles could certainely find better spots if they grew on walls as well, and still be able to catch prey.
Click to expand...

They don't have a muscle for extending the tongue; they need to rely on gravity to lower it.
 
Thats what a Gonarch turns into...very few make it that far :p
 
If the spore theory was true then they'd grow very fast as they were fully grown in Black Mesa on the same day the teleport to Xen was opened.
 
I bet they're born under water from an egg, then they lie around at the bottom of the water, and when they're big enough (but still pretty small, think slug/clam mixed together), they slither out of the water, up a wall/post, and suck themselves to the ceiling. Then they let their tongue down, eat and grow, but are still able to move if their original position isn't able to feed them.

I just made that up on the spot and haven't thought it over at all...but I think it works for now...

Edit: And they don't have sex, the eggs magically appear underwater...
 
theSteven said:
If the spore theory was true then they'd grow very fast as they were fully grown in Black Mesa on the same day the teleport to Xen was opened.
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True dat, but then again the tentacle grew a huge amout (all the way up into the blast chamber from the sewer) in the one day and headcrabs zombify people pretty fast.
 
Hello. A friend sent me this information on the barnacle apparently given in an early preview for Half-Life (Part of this description is used in the enemies section on Planet Half-Life). I think this gives a hint as to how barnacles can move end up where there are:
=========================

BLACK MESA RESEARCH STATION

[ TOP SECRET ]

Portal Project: Department of Xenotherian Husbandry

Excerpts from Non-Linnaean Taxonomic Classification Database

=========================

Barnacle (Cirripedia donaldsonia)

=========================

Lifespan: Estimated at 500 years, judging from the evidence of stomach-fossils.

=========================

Habitat: Any durable ceiling surface. Acoustic tiles are too weak to support any but the infant form of barnacle; however, colonies of juveniles and adults may cluster along girders in ceiling crawlspaces, infesting hidden areas and hiding until they sense heat or motion in corridors below.

=========================

Diet: The barnacle will swallow absolutely anything that moves into its snares, and will regurgitate only under extreme duress. When the combined weight of predator and prey weakens the surface to which the barnacle clings, it continue to digest its meal, even when this means tearing free of its attachment. A grounded barnacle is essentially harmless, as the adult form possess no motility; however, the flagellum may pose something of a threat until the barnacle's base dries and hardens, at which point the creature will void all internal fluids, and expire

=========================

Named for Dr. Louis Donaldson, its discoverer and first victim, the air-barnacle (through a freak of convergent evolution) resembles an unnaturally large member of the terrestrial subclass of Cirripedia, which includes the common goose-neck barnacle. But while the mundane barnacle passively filters nutrients from shifting ocean waters, the xenomorphic dry-land variety takes an extremely active role in the capture of any lifeforms unfortunate enough to enter its habitat. They have been occasionally mistaken for stalactites and light fixtures, and the investigator who values his life should always perform a thorough advance survey of ceilings and before entering caverns and corridors.

=========================
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So I guess baby barnacles can move around, but as adults, they become permanantly fixed to whatever position they hold on to.
 
You almost always come across barnacles in groups, so it would make sense to assume that they lay some kind of eggsac nests that stick to and fester and hatch on ceilings, where they root themselves into and live on.
 
You know when you kill a barnacle? I always thought that when jaws fell out it was shooting out spores that attach themselves to whatever killed it (since the usual killers on Xen didnt shoot them up lol) and the spores would travel with it irritating the skin until they tried to remove it, the dislodged spores would then fly off into the air until they hit a suitible ceiling (or if they hit a wall when they matured enough they'd climb up the wall like another posters theory) Then they'd grow, drop their tounge and the cycle continues.
 
the barnacles in black mesa are fully grown because they grew up in xen and were teleported to wherever they are in black mesa.
 
ríomhaire said:
I would imagine that they start off as spores and grow if they find a suitable location (somewhere damp)
Click to expand...

Now YOU have agood point... aside from that... How do you explain the tentacle in HL1??? That didn't grow into a spore in just a few days!!!
 
Omega1 said:
Hello. A friend sent me this information on the barnacle apparently given in an early preview for Half-Life (Part of this description is used in the enemies section on Planet Half-Life). I think this gives a hint as to how barnacles can move end up where there are:So I guess baby barnacles can move around, but as adults, they become permanantly fixed to whatever position they hold on to.
Click to expand...

That friend of your's has some nice data!
 
Ophiguris said:
Now YOU have agood point... aside from that... How do you explain the tentacle in HL1??? That didn't grow into a spore in just a few days!!!
Click to expand...
Simple teleport theory. Full grown tentacles are teleported from Xen to Black Mesa.
 
don't forget op4's barancle gun

though i doubt its canon considering how all other barnacles don't seem to be able to shoot their tongues. And how they will attempt to eat both organic and inorganic objects, where as the op4 barnacle gun would only attach to organics.

Which reminds me, whats the deal with the barnacles only eating live prey? They'll eat a live creature fine, but if its dead, it spits it right out. At least they're consistant about it and refuse to eat zombies all together, but its still pretty weird.
 
I guess they can't stand rotting flesh (alyx declares that zombies smell horrible in EP1, this implies they are possibly rotting). I think I saw a barnacle grabbing a zombine, eating the crab and spitting out the zombie once.
 
Gordon-Shepherd said:
the barnacles in black mesa are fully grown because they grew up in xen and were teleported to wherever they are in black mesa.
Click to expand...


And they just happened to teleport onto a ceiling, everytime? :p How convienient for them.
 
I reckon they could pull themselves along with their tongues, shooting them out onto a surface then dragging themselves along.
 
They are transgender. they dont need to mate. They.. mate with themself. Its called... are you ready..?
Materbation.
 
ríomhaire said:
I guess they can't stand rotting flesh (alyx declares that zombies smell horrible in EP1, this implies they are possibly rotting). I think I saw a barnacle grabbing a zombine, eating the crab and spitting out the zombie once.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I saw the same thing. They eat the crab, but leave the body.
 
TheAntipop said:
And they just happened to teleport onto a ceiling, everytime? :p How convienient for them.
Click to expand...

nah, the Nihilianth was holding the portals open and also directing them. He'd make sure barnacles spawned correctly.
 
0mar said:
nah, the Nihilianth was holding the portals open and also directing them. He'd make sure barnacles spawned correctly.
Click to expand...
No, the resonance cascade was random. Nihilanth would hardly use a priliminary invasion force consisting mainly of wild animals.
 
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