Limpet

The true limpet species Patella vulgata on a rock surface in Wales
Underside of a Patella vulgata specimen

Limpets are a group of aquatic snails with a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. This general category of conical shell is known as "patelliform" (dish-shaped).[1] Existing within the class Gastropoda, limpets are a polyphyletic group (its members descending from different immediate ancestors).

All species of Patellogastropoda are limpets, with the Patellidae family in particular often referred to as "true limpets". Examples of other clades commonly referred to as limpets include the Vetigastropoda family Fissurellidae ("keyhole limpet"), which use a siphon to pump water over their gills, and the Siphonariidae ("false limpets"), which have a pneumostome for breathing air like the majority of terrestrial Gastropoda.

  1. ^ Jaeger, Edmund Carroll (1959). A Source-book of Biological Names and Terms. Springfield, IL: Thomas. ISBN 978-0398061791.

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