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",
Bay barnacle barnacle ("Semibalanus balanoides") or the rock barnacle ("Balanus crenatus"). "Amphibalanus improvisus" has a cosmopolitan distribution and is found in temperate and tropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. It is not known where the species natural range lies but it may have originated in North America. It has colonised many parts of the world's oceans including the Indo-Pacific and Australasia as a biofouling agent on the hulls of ships. It was one of the first recorded introductions to the Baltic Sea, having been found in