The tough-to-recognize creature was identified as an endangered loggerhead sea turtle, and it even had barnacles stuck to its ...

A loggerhead sea turtle was recently saved after she washed up on a beach in Sargent, Texas, covered in barnacles and other organisms.

The juvenile loggerhead sea turtle was covered in layers of a variety of algae, acorn barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, worms, crabs, skeleton shrimp, bryozoans, and other small invertebrates.

It turns out barnacles are not like limpets - they're actually crustaceans - shrimps that attach themselves to the rocks and build extremely effective houses. Discover how they feed (with their feet!

This loggerhead sea turtle washed ashore in Texas covered in layer of encrustation, including barnacles in its mouth, experts discovered. Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research photo It’s common ...