Abstract
Size variables employed in field and laboratory studies on acorn barnacles usually vary with each investigation, making accurate comparisons of results among studies difficult. The relationship of a size index to individual weight or volume is either not known, or not reported. Evaluation of 15 morphometric variables by allometric analysis, using least-squares regression, multiple step-wise regression and ANCOVA, was performed on adults of 12 species of the cosmopolitan genus Balanus. Specimens represent variation in size, shell shape, and shell design thought to occur in the genus; only isolated, complete, undamaged individuals growing on planar surfaces were used. By significance testing, within and among species, total shell volume (VTS) and basal length (LBA) increase in constant proportion with total weight, but valve weight (WTV) and soma weight (TSO) do not. Regression statistics for log-linearized data permit a discussion of other attributes which characterize these variables.
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