Many marine animals remain to be discovered. This relative of corals and sea anemones was found in the early 1990s. Formal scientific identification of the species hasn't been published. Lepas anseripera phylum Arthropoda Larval barnacles can swim, but adults use environmental cues to choose a hard surface for settling down. The name comes from the shape they assume when they contract.
Adults burrow in sand or dwell in crevices in rocks or coral.
Often called lamp shells because of their resemblance to Aladdin's lamp, this ancient group has been around at least 400 million years, with 26,000 species in the fossil record. In the oceans, algae far outnumber flowering plants. The surf grass on the left is a flowering plant. Their color allows them to absorb the parts of sunlight that penetrate deeper water. With their elaborate skeletons of silica, these single-celled organisms are often preserved on the sea floor after they die.