The pedunculate barnacle Koleolepas avis is a symbiont of the sea anemone Calliactis japonica, which lives on gastropod shells carried by large hermit crabs, usually Dardanus arrosor. Relationships with the host sea anemone, distribution on the gastropod shell, left–right asymmetry and reproduction of the barnacle were investigated. A larger number of barnacles occurred on shells with greater ‘cylindroid dimensions’ of sea anemones. Distribution of barnacles on shells was not random: assuming the in situ position of the shell carried by the hermit crab (∼45° inclination), there were more barnacles along the lower part of the anemone disk than the upper part. Large barnacles lie on either the left or right sides of their capitula, and those lying on the left side (Type L individuals) tended to occur along the left side of the host, and those on the right side (Type R) along the right side. Barnacles [ges ]0·016 g in wet weight had egg masses, and there was a positive relationship between body weight and number of eggs. Koleolepas avis has both hermaphrodites and dwarf (complementary) males attached to them. Large hermaphrodites tended to have larger dwarf males than smaller hermaphrodites.