A. amphitrite is a medium-sized, cone-shaped sessile barnacle with distinctive narrow vertical purple or brown stripes.

A. amphitrite is a common coastal and estuarine organism found on hard natural surfaces such as bedrock, boulders, mollusc shells and red mangrove roots.

[6] After several moults the last larval stage, the cyprid larva, settles and crawls around looking for a suitable place to cement itself.

They are oriented perpendicular to the general flow direction of the water and the rates of movement vary with the availability of food so as to maximize particle intake.

The larvae settle out on and colonise the hulls of ships, harbour structures, buoys and the inflow pipes of desalination plants.

The fouling also causes friction between the water and the hulls of ships and this reduces efficiency and increases fuel costs.