Blue-rayed limpet

Taxobox
name = Blue-rayed limpet
status =


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archeaogastropoda
familia = Patellidae
genus = "Patella"
species = "P. pellucida"
binomial = "Patella pellucida"
binomial_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

The blue-rayed limpet, "Patella pellucida", (also known as "Patina pellucida" and as "Helcion pellucidum") is a species of small saltwater limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Patellidae, the true limpets. It lives on brown seaweeds.

Range of distribution

This limpet is found on eastern Atlantic coasts from Iceland and Norway, to Portugal. It is absent from the Baltic Sea, East Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.

hell description

Up to 15 mm long when fully grown, this species is easily identified by its translucent amber shell with brilliant blue spots running in lines across the top of the shell.

Habitat

The blue-rayed limpet lives primarily on "Laminaria" (kelp) but also on "Fucus serratus" on the lower shore, down to about 30 m.

Life habits

The larvae of this limpet species settle and metamorphose on the algal frond. Here it feeds on its host’s tissue using its radula, leaving small depressions in the frond.

As the limpets grow larger, they move down the stipe of the seaweed towards the holdfast, where they establish themselves by excavating a depression. This can weaken the holdfast, eventually resulting in the seaweed being dislodged by storms. The seaweed is often washed ashore, with the blue-rayed limpets still in place.

External links

* [http://busybee.mba.ac.uk/species/adult_gen_Helcionpellucidum.htm General biology of Blue-Rayed Limpets]