1. Marine crustaceans with feathery appendages used for filter-feeding, including barnacles and related organisms; members of the subclass Cirripedia.
Usage: plural form; also used as a collective noun; technical/scientific term; commonly studied in marine biology

Examples

• Cirripedes attach themselves to rocks and ship hulls in coastal waters.
• The researcher studied how cirripedes filter nutrients from seawater.
• Cirripedes are among the most successful marine organisms, found in nearly every ocean.
• Barnacles are the most familiar type of cirripedes to beachgoers.
• The cirripedes in the tide pool extended their feathery legs to catch plankton.