Goose barnacle migrate, it was thought that barnacle geese, "Branta leucopsis", developed from this crustacean, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe, hence the English names "goose barnacle", "barnacle goose" and the scientific name "Lepas anserifera" (, "goose"). The confusion was prompted by the similarities in colour and shape. Because they were often found on driftwood, it was assumed that the barnacles were attached to branches before they fell in the water. The archdeacon of Brecon, Gerald of Wales, made this claim in his "Topographia Hiberniae". Since barnacle geese were thought to be "neither flesh, nor born of flesh",
Barnacle (slang) to a system. The connotation in the software industry is that a software barnacle is code added as an expedient without regard to the original design intent. A software barnacle may also refer to malware or spyware which has been inserted into a computing system illegally. On printed circuit boards, a barnacle may be as simple as cutting a trace, soldering a wire in order to connect two points on the circuit board, or adding a component such as a resistor or capacitor. A barnacle may also be a complex subassembly or daughterboard. Barnacles in hardware assemblies allow an engineer