Alepas pacifica

Alepas pacifica is a whitish, translucent species of stalked barnacle. Its plates are lightweight, only partially calcified and much reduced in size. ==Distribution==

Alepas pacifica is found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, its range extending from Australia and Malaysia to China, Japan and the western coast of North America. It is also known from the Atlantic Ocean. ==Ecology==

Alepas pacifica lives in association with a jellyfish such as the ghost jellyfish Cyanea nozakii. Other jellyfish which this barnacle uses as a host include Nomura's jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai), Although normally a direct symbiont of jellyfish, this barnacle has been found attached to another barnacle of its own species which was itself attached to a jellyfish. These indirectly attached individuals were small and had longer penes than their directly attached counterparts, and may have acted as dwarf males. ==References==