Photo: Dimitri Brosens · Image source ·CC0
Animal profile · Mollusks · Limpet
Common limpet
Patella vulgata
Common limpets are cone-shaped sea snails that cling to rocky shores across the northeastern Atlantic. They graze algae when the tide covers them and return to a familiar resting scar.
Not a fish · an aquatic neighborWater
Saltwater + Brackish
Exposed rocky intertidal shores, rock pools, and estuary mouths.
Temperature
Range not established
A dependable species-specific wild temperature range was not found in the selected sources.
Size
Up to about 6 cm (2.4 in) long
About the length of a thumb
Lifespan
About 11–20 years, depending on habitat and growth rate.
Life expectancy varies with place, conditions, and what scientists have been able to observe.
01 · Signature adaptation
What does it do?
Common limpets move and feed mostly while submerged or damp. Many return to the same home scar, where the shell fits tightly against the rock and reduces water loss.
02 · Home coordinates
Where does it live?
From northern Norway southward along Atlantic Europe to Portugal and into the Mediterranean.
Regions: Norway · British Isles · Atlantic Europe · Mediterranean
03 · The menu
What does it eat?
It scrapes algae and microscopic growth from rock with its rough radula.
Herbivore: microalgae, Fucus algae, algal sporelings, encrusting red algae.
04 · Remember this
Two wow facts
Home scar
A limpet can gradually wear a shallow depression in the rock that matches its shell.
Sources [1]
Changes sex
Common limpets typically mature first as males and some later change into females.
Sources [1]