Austromegabalanus psittacus

Taxobox
name = Megabalanus psittacus


image_width = 240px
image_caption = A Picoroco and a Chilean sea urchin


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image2_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Crustacea
classis = Maxillopoda
subclassis = Thecostraca
infraclassis = Cirripedia
ordo = Sessilia
subordo = Balanomorpha
familia = Balanidae
genus = Austromegabalanus
species = "A. psittacus"
binomial = "Austromegabalanus psittacus"
binomial_authority = Molina, 1782

Austromegabalanus psittacus or Picoroco as it is known in Spanish is a species of giant barnacles native to the coasts of Chile and southern Peru. The Picoroco inhabits litoral and intertidal of rocky shores and grows normally up to 30 cm in high and has a mineralized shell composed of calcite. It is used in Chilean cuisine.

ources

* [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WM5-4JWWY9C-5&_user=651519&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000035158&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=651519&md5=443b8271f30f6a4f5bbdc8a0224deb7d Sciencedirect - Microstructure and crystallographic-texture of giant barnacle shell]
* [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/cr/2005/00000078/00000010/art00004 Ingentaconnect - Kinetic properties of the muscular pyruvate kinase from the giant marine barnacle]