Cellana stellifera

Taxobox
name = "Cellana stellifera"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Patellogastropoda
subordo = Patellina
superfamilia = Patelloidea
familia = Patellidae
genus = "Cellana"
species = "C. stellifera"
binomial = "Cellana stellifera"
binomial_authority = (Gmelin, 1791)
synonyms = "Patella stellifera" Gmelin, 1791
"Helcioniscus stellifera phymatius" Suter, 1905

"Cellana stellifera", or the star limpet, is a species of true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nacellidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the North Island and the northern half of the South Island of New Zealand.

Habitat

This limpet is found low down in the intertidal zone.

hell description

The shell is solid, broadly ovate, of rather low profile, apex at about the anterior third, sculptured with numerous, low, rounded radial ridges, crossed by dense delicate concentric lamellae.

Coloration of the exterior is dark reddish-brown, mostly showing a white or light yellowish star at the apex. The interior is bluish or purplish-grey with a silver sheen, the apical star showing in the area of the muscle attachment mark on the underside of the shell.

The maximum shell length is 70 mm, width 58 mm, and height 21 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1