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Megabalanus tintinnabulum -

Current distribution Megabalanus tintinnabulum (Linnaeus, 1758) (98 OBIS-datapoints, 1468 GBIF-datapoints)
Originally, the giant purple barnacle Megabalanus tintinnabulum occurred only in tropical waters. The precise area of origin is unknown, although some refer to the African West Coast and the Indo-Pacific region. The species was already observed in the Netherlands in 1764 on ship hulls. In 1998, populations of this exotic species were discovered on buoys along the Belgian coast. The giant purple barnacle belongs to the biofouling community of ship hulls and other hard surfaces. Because of its size, this species competes with indigenous barnacles.