Common limpet

Patella vulgata · The common limpet is a sea snail with a cone-shaped shell that lives in the waters of Western Europe.

Also called Common European limpet.

Common limpet
Photo: Tango22, CC BY-SA 3.0
Common limpet
Photo: Stefan Thiesen (wikimedia nick "Buntrabe"), CC BY-SA 3.0
Common limpet
Photo: Ansgar Gruber, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumMollusca
ClassGastropoda
OrderPatellogastropoda
FamilyPatellidae
GenusPatella
SpeciesPatella vulgata

Where it lives

Rocky shores from Norway and the British Isles south to Portugal.

Fun facts

  • A common limpet's tongue-like radula is longer than its own shell.
  • A common limpet has 1,920 teeth, arranged in 160 rows of 12 teeth each.
  • Limpet teeth are the strongest natural material known.
  • Limpet teeth can be stronger than spider silk, and are only comparable to the strongest commercial carbon fibres.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).