Limpet

Limpet

Limpet is a common name for a number of different kinds of saltwater and freshwater snails (aquatic gastropod mollusks); it is applied to those snails that have a simple shell which is more or less conical in shape, and either is not spirally coiled, or appears not to be coiled in the adult snails.

The name limpet is most often applied to members of the clade Patellogastropoda, the true limpets, which are all marine; however, the feature of a simple conical shell has arisen independently many times in gastropod evolution, in many different lineages, some of which have gills and some of which have a lung. The name is given on the basis of a limpet-like or "patelliform" shell, but the several groups of snails that have a shell of this form are not at all closely related to one another:

Contents

True limpets

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

The phrase "true limpets" is used only for marine limpets in the ancient clade Patellogastropoda, which contains five living families and two fossil families.

Uses of the vernacular name

As well as being applied to the true limpets, the common name "limpet" is used for many other widely different snails, all of which have a shell that does not appear to be spirally coiled in the adult stage. The term "false limpets" is also in use.

Marine limpets

The fossil fissurellid or "keyhole limpet", Diodora italica, from the Pliocene of Cyprus.

Freshwater limpets

  • The pulmonate river and lake limpets - Ancylidae

Most of the marine limpets have gills, where as all the freshwater limpets and a few of the marine limpets have a mantle cavity that is adapted to breathe air and function as a lung (and in some cases has been again adapted to absorb oxygen from water) all these various kinds of snail are only very distantly related. In other words, the name limpet is used to describe various extremely diverse groups of gastropods that have independently evolved a shell of the same basic shape (see convergent evolution).

References

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Limpet — Lim pet (l[i^]m p[e^]t), n. [Prob. through French fr. L. lepas, adis, Gr. lepa s, a dos.] (Zo[ o]l.) 1. In a general sense, any hatshaped, or conical, gastropod shell. [1913 Webster] 2. Any one of many species of marine shellfish of the order… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • limpet — marine gastropod mollusk, early 14c., from O.E. lempedu, from M.L. lampreda limpet (see LAMPREY (Cf. lamprey)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • limpet — ► NOUN ▪ a marine mollusc with a shallow conical shell and a muscular foot for clinging tightly to rocks. ORIGIN Latin lampreda limpet, lamprey …   English terms dictionary

  • limpet — [lim′pit] n. [ME lempet < OE lempedu < ML lempreda, limpet, LAMPREY] a gastropod mollusk of various families, mostly marine, with a single, low, cone shaped shell and a thick, fleshy foot, by means of which it clings to rocks, timbers, etc …   English World dictionary

  • limpet — /lim pit/, n. any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, often browsing on rocks at the shoreline and adhering when disturbed. [bef. 1050; ME lempet, OE lempedu, nasalized var. of *lepedu < L lepada, acc. of lepas …   Universalium

  • limpet — n. 1 any of various marine gastropod molluscs, esp. the common limpet Patella vulgata, with a shallow conical shell and a broad muscular foot that sticks tightly to rocks. 2 a clinging person. Phrases and idioms: limpet mine a mine designed to be …   Useful english dictionary

  • limpet — UK [ˈlɪmpɪt] / US [ˈlɪmpət] noun [countable] Word forms limpet : singular limpet plural limpets 1) a small sea animal that has a shell and sticks tightly to rocks 2) someone who always wants to be with another person and refuses to leave them …   English dictionary

  • limpet — noun /ˈlɪmp.ɪt/ a) A small mollusc, of the family Patellidae with a conical shell found clinging to rocks in the intertidal zones of rocky shores. He stuck to me like a limpet all day! b) Someone dependant; someone disregarding or ignorant of… …   Wiktionary

  • limpet — noun Limpet is used before these nouns: ↑mine …   Collocations dictionary

  • limpet — lim|pet [ˈlımpıt] n [Date: 1000 1100; : Medieval Latin; Origin: lampreda limpet, lamprey ] a small sea animal with a shell, which holds tightly onto the rock where it lives …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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