Now thriving in a body of water that exists only due to human mistake, these barnacles found within a once dry ancient lake bed find themselves, like many who call the desert their home, to be transplants, migrants and foreigners. They’ve been forced to adapt to an unnatural environment, brought to these waters by man’s ability to make a place what he wants it to be. In this case, an accident turned recreational paradise and WWII military training facility in southeastern California. As the US Navy saw fit, they submerged the bottoms of their boats and seaplanes previously covered by these clinging creatures, built a base, and utilized the oasis at hand. The high salinity levels and shallow warm waters of The Salton Sea allowed the unlikely inhabitation of these creatures to flourish for years to come, growing in a place they may have never existed otherwise. Thus beginning, the life of the desert barnacle.
