What are limpets?
Q: What are limpets?
A: Limpets are marine and freshwater gastropod molluscs with simple conical shells.
Q: What are true limpets?
A: True limpets refers to small marine gastropod molluscs with flattened, cone-shaped shells that are part of the ancient clade Patellogastropoda.
Q: Where do true limpets live?
A: True limpets live throughout the intertidal zone, attached to rocks or other hard ground.
Q: How do limpets attach themselves?
A: Limpets attach themselves using mucus and a muscular "foot", which seals them against the rock and protects them from desiccation during low tide, and from high-energy waves action.
Q: What do limpets eat?
A: Limpets eat by grazing on algae found on rock surfaces. They scrape films of algae from the rock with a radula, a ribbon-like tongue with rows of teeth.
Q: How do limpets move?
A: Limpets move by rippling the muscles of their foot in a wave-like motion.
Q: What is the size range of most limpets?
A: Most limpets are less than 3in (8cm) long, but there is a West Mexican Limpet that grows to be 8in (20 cm).
