It is a pelagic species found in open water in most of the world's oceans attached to drifting objects or marine organisms.

Conchoderma virgatum has a flexible, flattened, scale-less peduncle (stalk) which is attached to a solid surface, and a capitulum (body) with five smooth, four-sided plates, widely separated from each other and not clearly demarcated from the peduncle.

[2] Conchoderma virgatum has a cosmopolitan distribution, being found in all the world's oceans attached to a wide range of drifting and swimming objects,[3] as well as benthic habitats.

[4] Conchoderma virgatum is found attached to a wider range of floating objects and nekton than goose barnacles in the genus Lepas.

These feathery appendages beat rhythmically and catch plankton and small organic particles, drawing them into the mouth.