Question

Barnacles and mussels are filter feeders that attach themselves to rocks in the ocean. They eat by filtering small particles of food from the ocean water as it flows over them. A scientist observed a dense colony of barnacles covering the surface of a rock. The mussels were only able to attach to a few, small crevices on the same rock.
Evaluate this observation and explain a limiting factor that is affecting the barnacles and mussels on the ocean rock.

Answer 1

The barnacles are only able to attach them selfs to surfaces in the water. Since the surface is limited, barnacles are attaching themselves to the other barnacles, crowding the rock. The muscles were not able to grow or attach themselves off the surface of the rock. Same thing with the mussels that are growing on the rock. So not only barnacles are crowding the rock, but Mussels as well are crowding the rock.