Balanus balanus found at depths of up to and grows on bedrock, boulders, pebbles and shells. It seems to favour habitats with strong currents and when overcrowding occurs, adopts different shapes to fit the space available. It is often found growing alongside another barnacle, "Balanus crenatus". Other species often found in its vicinity include "Tubularia larynx", "Obelia geniculata", "Pomatoceros triqueter", "Pecten maximus", "Hydroides norvegica", "Chlamys opercularis" and "Sertularia" species. Coralline algae was often present as were the whelk, the European edible sea urchin ("Echinus esculentus"), the great spider crab ("Hyas araneus") and the shore crab ("Carcinus maenas"). The main predator is the
Botanical garden (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 1670); and in France ("Jardin des plantes de Montpellier", 1593; Faculty of Medicine Garden, Paris, 1597; "Jardin des Plantes", Paris, 1635), Denmark (University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden, 1600); Sweden (Uppsala University, 1655). During the 16th and 17th centuries, the first plants were being imported to these major Western European gardens from Eastern Europe and nearby Asia (which provided many bulbs), and these found a place in the new gardens, where they could be conveniently studied by the plant experts of the day. For example, Asian introductions were described by Carolus Clusius (1526–1609), who was director, in