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Limpets

'Limpets' are any mollusc with an umbrella-shaped shell. Limpets are common on the rocks. Some are also found under rocks. Sometimes the shell is covered with algae and mud and the limpet might look like a sea slug.

Limpets can move! Unlike the immobile barnacles, limpets can move around. Like most other molluscs, limpets have tentacles, a broad foot and a radula. The limpet's broad foot firmly grips the rock to avoid being dislodged by waves or predators. Limpets don't have an operculum to seal themselves in their shell. Instead, they clamp down tightly against the rock. Their grip is so strong that if you try to pry them off, you will hurt them.

Home Sweet Home: Some species of limpets have a strong homing instinct and move back to the same resting spot after a feeding bout. This spot is often a slight depression in the rock which fits the outline of the shell perfectly and is often referred to as the 'home scar'. Sometimes, you might come across a spot on a rock in the shape of a limpet and barren of any algae. This could be the former home of a limpet that has recently died. Some limpets are believed to follow their mucus trails back. In some of these homing limpets, their mucus also stimulates the growth of algae!

Limpet Food: Limpets graze algae at high tide. They may also be seen grazing at low tide at night and in the cool early morning or late evening.

Limpet Babies: The free-swimming limpet larvae have a little spiral shell like other 'normal' snails. As they develop, the shell flattens and becomes cap-shaped.

Grazing patterns
of a group of limpets

'Home scar' of a
recently dead limpet?

quick facts
About 1-2cm, common on and under rocks and other hard surfaces that are covered with water.

Classification:
Class Gastropoda
Phylum Mollusca

See also ...
Limpets of Chek Jawa

Links
How long does a limpet typically live? on the Mad Scientist website: Aydin Orstan explains, and the answer is surprising!
Limpets by Clifford Young on the Beachcomber on the Western Fisheries Magazine: fascinating facts about limpets in general
Patellacea on The Gladys Archerd Shell Collection at Washington State University Tri-Cities Natural History Museum website: brief fact sheet on true limpets with photos
False limpets (including scutus) and siphon shells on Life on Australian Seashores by Keith Davey on the Marine Education Society of Australia website: Fact sheet on these creatures and details on various species found in Australia.

Other references

Barnes, Robert D. & Ruppert, Edward E., 1996. Invertebrate Zoology. Harcourt College Publishers. 6th Edition. pp. 1056, G-1-16, I-1-30.
Pechenik, Jan A., 2000. Biology of the Invertebrates. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Singapore. 578 pp.
Woodward, Fred, 1993. Identifying Shells. The Apple Press, London. 80 pp.
Harasewych, M.G., 1991 edition. Shells: Jewels from the Sea. Courage Books, USA. 224 pp.
Lim, S., P. Ng, L. Tan, & W. Y. Chin, 1994. Rhythm of the Sea: The Life and Times of Labrador Beach. Division of Biology, School of Science, Nanyang Technological University & Department of Zoology, the National University of Singapore. 160 pp.
Davey, Keith, 1998. A Photographic Guide to Seashore Life of Australia. New Holland, Australia.144 pp.

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook
website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com